Dalai Lama to address Forum 2000 in Prague

Dharamsala: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will deliver the opening address at Forum 2000 in Prague on Monday, to be attended by over 100 global delegates. "The two-day annual Forum 2000 conference starts on September 16 to discuss challenges and threats related to democratic transitions," special secretary to the Dalai Lama, Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa said. The conference aims to explore challenges, opportunities, and risks in transitional processes from the post-Soviet region and the Arab World to Latin America and Asia. 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. The meet shall also be attended by Myanmar`s opposition leader 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 Vclav 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, Chhoekyapa said.

It would be Dalai Lama`s 10th visit to the Czech Republic. The first visit was in January 1990 at the official invitation of President Vclav Havel immediately after the Velvet revolution. PTI