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Obama aides at exile Tibetan headquarters

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche (L) greets Senior Advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett, outside his office in Dharamshala, India, 13 September 2009. Seen on the right is María Otero, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in the US State Department, and also the US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs designate.Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Three senior aides of US President Barack Obama met the prime minister of the Tibetan-government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche, ahead of a meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, is leading the delegation.

María Otero, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and Special Coordinator for Tibetan affairs designate in the US State Department, and Michael Strautmanis, Chief of Staff to the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, are the other two members of the delegation.

Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama to the US, Lodi Gyari, also attended closed-door meeting which lasted for an hour at the prime minister’s office in Dharamshala, India.

This was the highest-level US delegation to visit the exile Tibetan government since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s meeting with the Dalai Lama following a wave of unrest in Tibet in March 2008.

The delegation visited other Tibetan institutions and the Tibetan Children’s Village School following their arrival on Saturday.

According to sources at the prime minister’s office, the US delegation is scheduled to formally meet the Dalai Lama on Monday. However, they will have a brief meeting with the Dalai Lama on Sunday after he arrives from a European tour of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The officials from both sides were tight-lipped about the purpose of the visit.

The Dalai Lama will travel to Washington, DC, in October for the Mind and Life Conference and a teaching session. It is being speculated that he will meet with US president Barack Obama.

Obama’s predecessor George W Bush officially met with the Dalai Lama several times.

President Barack Obama will make his first presidential visit to China in November.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

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