CTA’s First Donors Conference Successfully Concluded
donors at the felicitation ceremony |
Dharamshala 20 January 2005: His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the Tibetan community in exile would never have become as vibrant as it is today without the help and support of the individuals and organizations who provided assistance and aid.
His Holiness said in a message to the first ever Donors’ Conference organized by the Central Tibetan Administration in Bangkok, Thailand from 14 to 15 January. The two-day conference was held at the Ashram run by Sulak Sivaraska, a renowned Thai social worker and the president of Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation.
“The conference was aimed at informing and addressing the core issues and problems faced by the Tibetan communities in exile by evolving a common approach in resolving the problems through plenary and specialised group sessions”, says Dr. Kunchok Tsundue, the Chief Planning Officer of the CTA’s Planning Commission. According to the nature of problems, he said, these have been differentiated under key and parallel sessions during the conference to have invaluable insights and expertise from the donors. “If we are to succeed in our endeavours it is important to have a common approach and concerted efforts from all sides towards the third Integrated Development Plan of the Kashag”.
“The conference was held basically with four main objectives, inform donors of the impacts of major developmental projects, apprise donors of concurrent situation of Tibetans in exile and the policies and programme priorities of CTA, evolve common approach and strategies for getting support, efficient and effective implementation of development programmes and acknowledge distinguished individuals and organisations for their selfless devotion and untiring support for the cause of Tibetan people”, said Dr. Tsundue
Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon Lobsang Nyandak, kalon for finance, Mr. Tsering Dhondup, Secretary of Department of Home, Dr. Kunchok Tsundue, and Ms. Tenzin Chungkyi, Executive Coordinator of Social and Resource Development Fund under Department of Finance participated in the conference.
His Holiness’ message read out by Kalon Lobsang Nyandak stated that most of the projects undertaken with the help of the donors were carried out successfully, much to the satisfaction of the Tibetans’ friends and supporters and that the experiences of working with them have reassured His Holiness’ basic belief in “universal responsibility”, the innate ability of humans to look after and take care of others.
2. donors with Kalon Tripa and Kalon Lobsang Nyandak |
The Kalon Tripa delivered the keynote address to the donors. “Dazzling promises of global prosperity and trickle down benefits of neo-liberal paradigm proved nothing more than what the Tibetan proverb-a bottomless vessel that has no capacity to hold any water-says”, the Kalon Tripa said.
The Department of Finance and the Planning Commission, which arranged the conference were expecting around 40 donors from various countries to attend the conference but a few donors could not attend as they had to divert their way due to the Tsunami disaster.
The Tibetan students of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) also participated in the conference. Kalon Lobsang Nyandak and Dr. Kunchok Tsundue met with the director of the AIT and governor of the Bank of Thailand.
Dr. Kunchok Tsundue told TibetNet that the donors were very impressed by the presentation of the various policies of the Kashag, and that the donors were of the view that more such conferences should be held in the future with addition of political panel to give them a better understanding of the developments in the Sino-Tibetan relations.
The Kalon Tripa presented souvenirs to the donors and expressed gratitude of his administration and people to them for the altruistic support in the rehabilitation and education of the Tibetan refugees.