PARIS: In a letter addressed to the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius today, Mr. Jean-Patrick Gill has urged the Minister to receive Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay when the later visits Paris on 18 April.

“In view of the very worrying situation in the Tibetan regions, and the dramatic acceleration of the self-immolations movement, it appears to us necessary that a meeting between the Tibetan Prime Minister and French authorities, which you represent, take place”, the letter says while acknowledging that the Tibet Group will be receiving the Sikyong in the National Assembly.

“The Dalai Lama has completely retired from the political life now, leaving the leadership of the exile government in the hands of a democratically elected Prime Minister”, Mr. Gill writes.

Mr. Jean-Patrick Gill is a deputy in the French Lower House from Indre-et-Loire region of France and serves as one of the co-presidents of Study Group on the Question of Tibet, a parliamentary support grou p for Tibet, in the French National Assembly along with deputy Mr. Noël Mamère.