Reportage – 2007

Dalai Lama envoys headed for China

MCLEOD GANJ, India, 28 June 2007 — Two envoys of the Dalai Lama are leaving for China on Friday for the sixth round of talks with Chinese authorities on the Tibetan issue according to a press release by Dalai Lama's office on Thursday.

Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's special envoy to Washington, and Kelsang Gyaltsen, envoy to the European Union, will be accompanied by two senior assistants for the talks.

The envoys received their final instructions from the Dalai Lama during an audience on 26 June.

Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, also took part in the deliberations, the press statement said.

Relations between the two sides froze for about a decade since 1993, until direct contacts resumed in 2002.

The fact-to-face meetings between the two sides were 'friendly and frank and they were useful', said the Dalai Lama on 8 June during a speech at Monash University in Australia.