Thank you Prof. Anand Kumar Ji. Prof. Anand Kumar has been associated with Tibetan movement for a very long time. The venerable members of sanga, Chief guest Mr. Kanwal Sibal Ji, Most revered Kalon Tripa, Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, members on the dais and friends from different parts of the world.

It is my privilege to represent the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and as the Speaker I extend warm greetings and salutation to all the delegates who have assembled here from as far as Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand and from different parts of the world. I have been associated with the Tibet Support Group conferences since 2003. In the last two conferences I was there more as a member of the organising committee. Today I am here as the Speaker of the parliament. In the last two days I had the opportunity to meet many old friends that I met in last two conferences and also had the opportunity to meet and make many new friends. On behalf of the Tibetan Parliament I really wish to express our deep felt gratitude to the consistent support you have shown over so many years particularly many senior people who have come here. There are many people who have been attending the TSG conferences for a very long time. So I take this opportunity to express my gratitude again.

I won’t take much time. I will just touch on three issues. 

One of course is the Tibet Support Groups. Since 1990 we have been having the TSG conferences and I don’t have to say how important this platform is. We are here to meet and share our views and to develop strategies that could be carried out in a concerted and in a well coordinated manner.  All of us know that the Tibetan issue is a political issue. It might get resolved in a very short time or it could take a much longer time. But your continued support is very necessary. Particularly in the last ten to fifteen years the strategies that the Chinese government has adopted in terms of reaching out to the international community have changed a lot.  In my personal experience, as I travelled to different parts of the world from 2001, I had the opportunity to meet lots of political leaders and supporters. The Chinese Government today, sends delegation after delegation in different forms to reach out to many world leaders. At one time China never recognised the importance of parliament but these days they have specially appointed personnel not only to deal with the Government but also with parliamentarians.  One of our friends in the European parliament told me that it is very important and essential for us to go and meet political leaders, the elected representatives and also people in government to explain the current situation inside Tibet. It is not easy for us to reach every corner of world from Dharamshala. So, you as Tibet supporter, in your respective country should reach out to your elected representatives and explain the current situation inside Tibet from time to time. That’s very important and I want to urge you to take this more seriously, not just within your community or within your street but also in reaching out to your Government and elected representatives. That is very important.

The second point is regarding the Parliamentary Groups and that platform too is very important. For the last 15 years, we have organised five world parliamentarian’s conventions on Tibet. The last one was held in November 2009 in Rome. There, we have formed a working group of Parliamentarians called the International Network of Parliamentarians for Tibet (INPaT) that consist of six members, Senator Consiglio Di Nino from Canada, Birgitta Jonsdottir from Iceland,  Thomas Mann from European parliament, Matteo Meccaci from Italy, Peter Slipper from Australia and Takam Sanjoy from India. The newly formed working group representing different parliamentary groups around the world is mainly to facilitate network amongst the parliamentary groups for Tibet and individual members around the world.  It is very essential for the Tibet Support Groups to work very closely with this working group. And a secretariat has been provided for them, something that the working group and the Tibetan parliament have jointly decided, to facilitate secretarial support to this working group. And that organisation is the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). Let me make it very clear that the ICT is there only to facilitate the working group and not to interfere in the work of the TSGs. So I request the International Tibet Support Network as an organisational network of the TSGs to work closely with the INPaT secretariat. ICT Brussels is our contact organisation and the concerned person is  Ms. Tsering Jampa.  It would also be very useful if you could send us the contact detail of those members who support Tibet in your respective region. That would be another way of strengthening the parliamentary support for Tibet, which is also very important. 

The 3rd point, which I want to share with you is to propose a new platform. Today we have the International Tibet Support Groups, representative of all the ordinary citizens from different parts of the world and then we have the parliamentary groups. But there is a middle level, of provinces, of municipalities and towns. In Italy, there is a network of provinces, municipalities and towns chaired by Maria Spinosa and Gian Piero Leo. This could be an example for others to emulate to create a 3rd platform. We have many supporters in state governments and in the provincial governments. They are much more flexible in rendering programmatic support than the federal governments. I would say that those who render programmatic assistance for Tibet inside Tibet and outside Tibet are much more tangible than political support that could sometimes be counterproductive in certain given situation. To start this new platform, for example, there are many cities that have honoured His Holiness the Dalai Lama with honorary citizenship, there are also many towns that raise Tibetan flag on given day or throughout the year. So, we can create this new platform, a 3rd platform which would be useful. It will be good for you to request the people of that level to form a network in your own country. Once you have this network in your respective country then we could convene a formal meeting of all those provinces, municipalities and towns. I hope you will take it as a constructive proposal and start working on it. By the time of the next TSG conference perhaps we can have something concrete. 

Thank you.