His Holiness in Wiesbaden, Germany
Geneva, 27 July 2005 (Office of Tibet, Geneva)– His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse state in Germany, yesterday afternoon. He was accorded a very warm welcome by Mr. Roland Koch, the chief minister of the state.
His Holiness is in Germany at the invitation of the H.E. Roland Koch to receive the Peace Prize Award by the Hessian Institute of Peace and Conflict Research and to attend the celebration of His 70th birthday.
This is the first celebration of its kind being held outside India this month in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
His Holiness had two major engagements yesterday. His Holiness met with Mr. Roland Koch at the State Chancery during which they discussed Tibet and other related issues. His Holiness appreciated Mr. Koch’s long standing friendship and association with Tibetans and also thanked him for his steady interest and support spanning over two decades.
The chief minister told His Holiness that there was a tremendous interest to the visit and tens of thousands have registered to attend His public talk being held in a Park nearby.
Later His Holiness met with the Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize Award of the Hessian State Government led by Mr. Norbert Kartmann, speaker of the State Parliament and representatives of the Board of Peace and Conflict Research who are experts and researchers. He had a deeply engaged discussion over 90 minutes with them on issues relating to building peace and conflict resolutions through non-violent means.
The participants were highly touched by His Holiness´ simplicity and strong conviction in non-violence and dialogue as a means of resolving human differences. His Holiness emphasised the importance of educating the younger generations to resolve differences of interests and views through dialogues from a very young age.
Today, the Hessian Peace Prize Award will be presented to His Holiness at the State Parliament House.