Barcelona: Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration addressed the Tibetan Community in Barcelona on Monday, 27 November.
After his successive maiden official visits to Canada and America, Sikyong arrived at Barcelona Airport on Monday morning with a rousing reception where he was accorded with warm welcome by Ven Thupten Wangchen (Tibetan MP from Europe) and Representative Rigzin Choedon Genkhang.
The democratically elected leader of the Tibetans in exile met and interacted with the Tibetan residents of the region later in the evening.
Sikyong addressed the Tibetan community about his recent engagements with MPs and the members of the Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Tibet. He further briefed them about his maiden official visits to Southern America during the month of October in Mexico, Columbia and Costa Rica, the trip which he noted helped in building support, strengthening, and advancing the Tibetan cause.
Sikyong also briefed about his engagements in Washington DC, where members of Congress reintroduced a bipartisan bill on Tibet that helps in Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act. Furthermore, he stressed the significance of appreciating and adhering to the aspirations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Sikyong also shed light on the emergency situation inside Tibet, Tibet’s environmental significance, and the preservation of Tibetan culture, religion and language. Additionally, he epitomised the audience about the Middle Way Approach and urged them to work for the Tibetan cause.
Before concluding his talk, Sikyong Penpa Tsering acknowledged the official representative of Tibet House, MP Thupten Wangchen. It was followed by a question-answer session with the audience.
Sikyong met with reporters from La Vanguardia and answered a series of questions. He then left for Austria’s capital Vienna in the afternoon, on 28 November.