Dharamshala: According to the report received from the Finance Department, a new voluntary association of the Tibetan business community was formed during the first conference of the Tibetan sweater sellers' union leaders held at the Golden Huts Resort on the Delhi-Jaipur highway on 11 and 12 August. The conference was organised by the Finance Department of the Central Tibetan Administration.

The association has been formally registered in the name of Tibetan Refugee Traders' Association (TFTA) under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860) on 22 August 2006.

About 98 representatives from 69 sweater sellers' unions have participated in the conference. Mr. Tempa Tsering, representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, was chief guest at the TFTA's inagural function.

Also present at the function were Mr. Sonam Topgyal Khorlatsang, Secretary, Mr. Dawa Dorjee, Additional Secretary, and Mr. Sonam Dorjee, Joint Secretary of the Finance Department.

Kalon Lobsang Nyandak Zayul, Kalon for the Finance Department, attended the second day of the conference and threw light on the importance of forming the Tibetan sweater sellers' association.

The TFTA is managed by an interim governing body consisting of 15 members. The main task of the interim governing body members is to convene a general body meeting within two years and to elect a new fulltime governing body consisting of seven to fifteen members for three-year term period.

Out of the total 69 local unions participated in the conference, 54 unions joined the newly formed association.

"We feel that it is a good beginning for the Tibetan business community who are mainly in unorganized sectors. This association will provide strength and bargaining-power to all out there; who have been in their businesses for over three decades in India. The time has, indeed, come to consolidate and make it an organized sector by lawfully complying with the law of nation to greatest extent", said Sonam Dorjee, joint secretary of the Finance Department.

The association of Tibetan sweater sellers will help them to provide updated services on business opportunities, taxation laws and various other issues. It will also serve as a platform for the Tibetan sweater sellers to share their views and concerns.


(www.tibet.net is the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.)

Updated on 29th Aug. 2006 12:14 PM IST