Mexico City: Mexico: The Americas Regional Meeting of Tibet Groups was held in Mexico from 1- 3 September 2017 in the heart of Mexico City organized by International Tibet Network. There were 43 participants from US, Canada and Latin America namely Chile, Brazil and Mexico.
President of Central Tibetan Administration, Dr Lobsang Sangay delivered the keynote address on the final day of the meeting, followed by Q&A session with the participants. President Dr Sangay said his presence here was to show support and solidarity with the Tibet Groups.
Speaking to the participants, Dr Sangay applauded the hardwork and dedication of the Tibet supporters and said, “it was through hardwork of many including the Tibet supporters that the Tibet issue is well recognised around the globe.”
He said that Beijing does enjoy very good relations around the world at the government to government level. However, the people and media are, he said, very skeptic about Beijing’s approach.
Keeping this into mind, he said, the Tibetans and Tibet supporters have the responsibility to make the Tibet issue relevant in the global context and make it a referral point.
President Dr Lobsang Sangay delivers keynote address on the final day of the ITN Americas Regional Meeting at Mexico on 3 September 2017.
Dr Sangay spoke at length informing the participants of the meeting about the policy of the Central Tibetan Administration in declaring the year 2017 as a campaign year and the 2018 as a gratitude year.
With this in mind, he requested the Tibet supporters to go forward and strengthen the Tibetan activism and campaigns around the globe, although it is already through the middle of the campaign year.
He said that the CTA is happy to facilitate the Tibet supporters in whatever way it can in this regard. He said that he had already informed the leaders of the Tibet Support Groups earlier that the 2005 CTA policy of creating “conducive atmosphere” was no longer relevant now and therefore there is nothing to hold back the global Tibetan campaigns.
Dr Sangay also briefed the participants of the meeting about the Five Fifty policy of the Central Tibetan Administration and reminded the participants of the meeting about Beijing policy of “One Belt and One Road”, which is going to be core policy of China in its foreign affairs, economic and trade relaions, security and military built up in the coming years.
President of the Central Tibetan Administration, Dr Lobsang Sangay, arrived Mexico City on 2 September. Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Latin America Tsewang Phuntso and President of the Casa Tibet Mexico Tony Karam along with the Airport Protocol Officers welcomed and greeted Dr Sangay.
After the address, Dr Sangay spent a substantial amount of time observing the proceedings of the meeting and interacting with the participants individually.
Participants listening to President Dr Lobsang Sangay at the closing ceremony of the Americas Regional Meeting of Tibet Groups.
The meeting was organized by International Tibet Network with the sole purpose to explore new campaigns and new audiences that will invigorate Tibet Movement, agree action steps for immediate priorities including CTA’s Year of Campaign and also to find motivation through being together and build capacity of the Tibet groups together and build capacity of the Tibet groups through networking, sharing and training.
Representative of Latin American countries Mr. Tsewang Phuntso spoke on the status of Tibet movement in the Latin American countries and on CTA’s priorities in that region. Mrs Sonam Sangmo, TSG Liaison Officer of DIIR led a session to review on the Action Plans which were adopted during the Seventh International TSG conference in Brussels. She also emphasis on the active involvemet of Tibet Groups in the CTA’s Year of Campaign – 2017.
Some of the keynote speakers of the meeting were Alan Cantos, who spoke on the universal jurisdiction and on the case of Spanish Law suit and how it could be reciprocate in one’s own country, Professor Michael C. Davis, Professor of Law and International Affair of the University of Hongkong and Jindal Global University spoke on parallels with Hongkong and current context.
The two and half day meeting ended successfully with a renewed spirit among the participants to work towards Tibet’s movement with more commitment and motivation.
-Report filed by Tibet Support Group Desk-
President Dr Lobsang Sangay delivers keynote address on the final day of the ITN Americas Regional Meeting at Mexico on 3 September 2017.
Participants with President Dr Lobsang Sangay.