Dalai Lama to address Forum 2000 in Prague on Monday

Dharamsala, September 15, 2013: Dalai Lama will deliver the opening address the 17th annual Forum 2000 Conference in the Czech Republic capital Prague.

The special secretary to Dalai Lama Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa confirms it and said, “The two days annual Forum 2000 Conference starts on 16 September. More than 100 global leaders from politics, academia, civil society, media, business and religion will discuss challenges and threats related to democratic transitions.”

Chhoekyapa said that the Dalai Lama will take part in the Forum 2000 International Advisory Board and Shared Concern Initiative members meeting after the opening addresses of the conference. This meet shall also be attended by Aung San Suu Kyi and Republic of South Africa’s former President Frederik Willem de Klerk and  former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg .

This year’s conference is inspired by the legacy of Forum 2000 founder and former Czech President Václav Havel, who dedicated his life to both the struggle for freedom and human dignity against totalitarianism and the transition of his country to an open and thriving democracy. The conference aims to explore the challenges, opportunities, and risks in transitional processes from the post-Soviet region and the Arab World to Latin America and Asia. Discussions will target institutional, constitutional and societal developments, political party dynamics, transitional justice, media, education, foreign policies, as well as cultural factors including religion and historical memory.

This is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 10th visit to the Czech Republic. The first visit was in January 1990 at the official invitation of President Václav Havel immediately after the Velvet revolution.