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President Ilves meets with Dalai Lama

President Ilves meets with Dalai Lama © Jarek Jõepera

17.08.2011

Today President Toomas Hendrik Ilves met with Nobel peace prize laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.

“The religion and culture of Tibet are truly unique, and maintaining them for future generations is one of the great humanistic duties of our time,” the president said.

President Ilves confirmed his support for the Estonian government's continuing One China policy, emphasising his conviction that Tibetan history, religion and culture enrich the People’s Republic of China in the broadest possible sense.

“The careful, even sympathetic protection and fostering of the cultures, beliefs and languages of minorities living within majorities is something that enriches us all,” said the president. “It makes us more open, and it makes us wiser.”

The unofficial meeting took place at the International Centre for Defence Studies, at which the Dalai Lama – who had been invited to Estonia by the Buddhism Institute – participated in a seminar.

 

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