With his departure to Rome as Australia’s first Ambassador to the Holy See looming, Mr Fischer joined his Bhutanese co-author Tshering Tashi yesterday to launch their compilation of the stories of the modern and ancient Bhutan — Bold Bhutan Beckons.

The book will not be available until March but Mr Fischer wanted to launch the book before his departure.

Mr Fischer said the Bhutanese offered the world life lessons all could learn from after a four-year project he had undertaken with Mr Tashi, who operates a business in the travel industry in Bhutan.

“Just before going to Rome I wanted to get the book launched and sell the message that people should look at their work/life balance,” he said.

“I met Tshering Tashi while I was in Bhutan a few years ago and we developed a style of jointly writing this book using the internet and email messages.”

Mr Fischer said he was greatly interested in Bhutan’s move to a constitutional monarchy and its Buddhist faith as he headed to Rome with a focus on interfaith dialogue.

He rejected criticism of his book on the Catholic website, eurekast reet.com.au this week, arguing the book did in part explore the plight of ethnic Nepali Bhutanese who flee their country as refugees.

Mr Tashi said while Bhutan was being modernised, the country did not see its first trafficable road until 1960 and there were those Bhutanese who still sought to live in isolation.