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Dalai Lama to receive awards in Italy and Germany

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The Dalai Lama upon his arrival at the Gaggal airport near Dharamshala, India on 3 February 2009. He is scheduled to visit Italy and Germany to receive honorary citizenship of Rome and Venice, and a media prize in Baden Baden.File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Europe next week to receive honorary citizenship in two cities in Italy, and a media award in Germany, according to the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

He will travel to Rome and Venice in Italy and Baden Baden in Germany for four days from 8 February.

The City Council of Rome and Venice will confer the Dalai Lama with honorary citizenship for his contribution to world peace and efforts in finding peaceful resolution to the Tibetan issue.

In Germany, the Dalai Lama will be presented the Deutsche Medienpreis 2008 (the German Media Prize) on 10 February in Baden Baden, a town on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe. A 20-member jury consisting of Germany’s most important and influential media dons chose the Dalai Lama for the award.

The German group has applauded the Tibetan leader for his active role in advocating reconciliation, tolerance, humility and his non-violent approach in the freedom struggle of the Tibetan people.

German’s Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to restart talks with the Dalai Lama when she had a joint press conference with Wen in Berlin at the end of January. She offered German assistance to broker talks if China so wished to find a solution to the Tibetan issue.

Merkel met the Dalai Lama in September 2007 despite China’s fury. Earlier last year she defended the meeting and said she would meet the Tibetan leader again.

The German Media Prize has been previously presented to personalities such as Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, King Hussein of Jordan and King Juan Carlos of Spain.

The Dalai Lama will return to India on 11 February.

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