Tibetan Information Office (TIO) is based in Canberra.

DIIR Kalon to Address Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee at Australian Parliament

Dharamshala: Kalon Kesang Yangkyi Takla, kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, will address the sub-committee members of the Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Federal Parliament at Canberrra, on 13 October.

Kalon Takla will visit Australia and New Zealand from 9 to 16 October.

The Tibet Information Office based in Australia is coordinating the visit.

Kalon Takla will deliver a public talk on “Tibet Post Oympics” at LHMU Auditorium in Sydney on 9 October.

Later in the evening, she will attend a dinner reception to be hosted by Mr Chin Jin, chairman of Federation for Democratic China and Ms Mei, president of Chinese-Tibetan Harmonious Association. The association was formed to bring harmonious relationship and better understanding between the two communities, following suggestions put forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This will followed by a meeting with Chinese scholars and executive members.

On 10 October, she will meet with scholars, commentators, representatives of various NGOs including Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists, and Australian Tibet Society. This meeting is being organised by Australian Tibet Council.

She will give a keynote address on “Non-violent and Tibetan Struggle” at Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney University, on 11 October.

The Tibetan Community Association will present a cultural program and present their brief report on daily activities. There are more than 350 Tibetans in Sydney mostly settled in Dee Why areas. Kalon Takla will address the Tibetan people on the latest situation in Tibet and other important issues.

She will leave Sydney for Melbourne on 12 October.

In Melbourne, Kalon Takla will meet with the members of Australian Tibet Council, Australian Tibetan Women’s Association, Victorian Parliamentary Group for Tibet and a Chinese group at Tara Institute. She will address some 110 Tibetans settled in Melbourne. On the same day she will leave for a two-day visit to Canberra.

On 13 October, she will brief the sub-committee members of the Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Federal Parliament at Canberrra, which is one of the positive development on Tibetan issue at the Australian Parliament.

Later in the evening, the Green Party leader Hon Senator Bob Brown will host a dinner reception in honour of Kalon Takla at the Parliament. All the Green Senators will be attending the reception. The Green Party of Australia is the third largest political party in Australia and holds balance of power in the Senate.

On 14 October, All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet under the chairmanship of Hon Michael Danby, will organize a parliamentary reception for Kalon Takla at the Parliament and many MPs and senators are expected to join.

She will also meet with the senior officials from the Foreign Ministry and Shadow Foreign Minister Senator Hon Helen Coonan of the Liberal Party at Parliament house.

She will inaugurate a new building of the Tibet Information Office at a brief traditional Tibetan ceremony.

In New Zealand, she will also address the Tibet Supporters and Tibetan Community at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Hall and leave for India after attending all the official engagements.