Dharamshala: Upon his arrival in the United States, CTA’s Sikyong Penpa Tsering paid a courtesy call to US Special Coordinator for Tibet Uzra Zeya on Monday, 25 April 2022, at the State Department.
The official visit was accompanied by Representative Dr Namgyal Choedup of the Office of Tibet in Washington DC and Abbot Zeekyab Rinpoche representing Tashi Lhunpo monastery, as the day also commemorates the 33rd birth anniversary of Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama.
According to Abbot Zeekyab Rinpoche, the delegation appealed Special Coordinator to assist in resolving the Sino-Tibet conflict at the earliest and the swift return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet. The meeting also focused on the effective execution of the enrolment bill ‘HR 1646’, which demands the US Ambassador to China to meet with the long missing Panchen Lama of Tibet and confer religious rights awards to the latter to attain recognition.
The Tibetan delegation also called on Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain to celebrate the Panchen Lama’s birth anniversary, following the intercommunication with the Special Coordinator.
The commemoration event, jointly organised by Office of Tibet in Washington DC and International Campaign for Tibet, was also attended by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Nury Turkel (Commissioner USCRIF), Kelley Currie (former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issue), Scots Busby (Acting Principal Duty Assistant Secretary of Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor), and Sophie Richardson (China Director at Human Rights Watch).
In the morning of the same day, Sikyong also met Kurt Campbell, Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the US National Security Council.
(L-R) Representative Namgyal Choedup, Abbot Zeekyab Rinpoche, Special Coordinator Uzra Zeya, and Sikyong Penpa Tsering.
Tibetan delegations with Rashad Hussain, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering presenting token of memento to Kurt Campbell, Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the US National Security Council.
