Dharamsala, November 17: Exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Monday arrived in Italy to attend the 5th World Parliamentarian’s Convention on Tibet to be held in Rome on November 18 and 19.
Over 100 Parliamentarians from 28 countries and 18 members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile are expected to attend the two-day convention, organised by the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Tibet.
The Dalai Lama will address the convention when it opens on Wednesday in the Lower House of the Italian Parliament.
Gianfranco Fini, the President of the Lower House of Italian parliament, will welcome the Dalai Lama in the parliament. Fini and Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno will also address the convention.
Despite angry protest from China, Alemanno presented the prestigious Rome Honorary Citizenship to the Tibetan leader when he last visited the city in February this year.
Tibetan Prime Minister Samdong Rinpoche will also address the convention.
The World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet aims to promote the cause of Tibet through a unified network of Parliamentarians for Tibet and facilitate meaningful negotiation between His Holiness the Dalai Lama with the People’s Republic of China.
The earlier conventions were held in 1994 in New Delhi, India, in 1995 in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1997 in Washington DC, USA, and in 2005 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Prior to the convention in Rome, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to address a conference on regional self-government in Trento, an autonomous province in northern Italy, on Tuesday.
The 74-year old Tibetan leader arrived Monday morning in Bolzano, a city in the autonomous province of South Tyrol also in northern Italy, according to a report on the official website of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile based in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala.
The Dalai Lama was received by South Tyrol’s President Luis Durnwalder at the Bolzano airport and was later greeted by Tibetans and Italian supporters when he arrived at a hotel.
On Tuesday the Dalai Lama will meet with Durnwalder and the members of the entire South Tyrol Government. Later in the afternoon, the Dalai Lama will travel to Trento, where its President Lorenzo Dellai will host a luncheon in his honour.
Both Durnwalder and Dellai will also address the conference on ‘Self Government, Cultural Identity and Multinational Integration: Comparative Experience for Tibet’, organised by Autonomous Province of Trento in cooperation with Department of Legal Sciences, University of Trento and European Academy in Bolzano.
On Tuesday evening, the Dalai Lama will leave for Rome to attend the 5th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet and is scheduled to return to India on 19 November.
