Tibetan Parlimentary & Policy Research Centre

Madam Chairperson and dear colleagues,

On behalf of the participants of this convention, both parliamentarians and other colleagues who have joined us here from various countries of the world, it is my privilege to propose a vote of thanks. First and foremost, to you, Laima, for all that you have done during this last year and more to see that this conference takes place here. Our thanks to colleagues, to the members of the organizing committee and a whole lot of friends who have taken specific responsibilities to make this conference possible.

We have representatives from 21 countries here and many colleagues who should have come have not been able to make it to the convention. But one part of the world which should have been represented, but which is not, is Latin America. At the Delhi Convention we had colleagues from Latin America. And as you know, we had then decided to have a mid-term meeting of our group, the steering committee, in Latin America.

My colleague, Ms. Jaya Jaitley – who is not a member of parliament but whose involvement in the cause of the Tibetan people is as much as that of any one of us – sent me a small note while I was sitting on the platform there, saying it is very important that we devotee some attention to Latin America vis-à-vis Tibet. And the point that she made in the note was that at the voting in Geneva on the human rights issue last year, while India’s vote defeated the resolution on Tibet, there were four or five Latin American countries that abstained. Therefore, an effort to involve Latin America is not going to be confined to having a wider base for this convention but it also means winning some of the battles that are being fought constantly at various levels, in which some of us may not be directly involved but where we can influence the course of events. Therefore, I do not know whether when we sit later informally as the steering committee, or as any other form, we could think of some meeting in Latin America. As a part of our effort, it is necessary that we concentrate there because we have friends there in Chile, Venezuela and a couple of other countries. They did come all the way to Delhi. If any problem arises subsequently, we should apply our minds to the problems and do something to bring these people also into this fold.

The resolution talks about at least a thousand members of parliaments being represented here through various parliamentarian groups. I feel that apart from thousand members of parliaments, we also represent several hundred million people. For instance, there are four of us members of parliament from India assembled here. Each Member of Parliament from India represents two million people. Our constituency has a population of two million. So, between the four of us, we represent people numbering two and a half times the population of Lithuania. So therefore, it is not merely a thousand members of parliaments, but it is also millions and millions of people. In my view, the population whose size would not be any less than the size of the population of China is represented here.

We have our frustrations, we have our disappointments and we have goals which, we often feel, are taking time for us to achieve. Yet, we have reasons to feel happy and satisfied that our work has the support of several hundred million people all over the world. I am sure that this convention has attracted the attention not only of the people of Lithuania and of Europe, but also of people all over the world. Since the day before yesterday, I am told, the international media has been concentrating on this convention. I was told this morning that in yesterday’s news the convention and all that transpired here were given a very positive presentation. It was the third most important news of the day on the Lithuania radio and television. I am sure that the same kind of treatment will be give to this conference resolution and to the press conference that we are going to have tomorrow. I personally feel that from Delhi to Vilnius and we have traversed a lot.

In comparisons with what we achieved in Delhi, this conference has achieved much more. It has built on what we started in Delhi and I am sure that in the coming one year, between now and the next convention, wherever we have it, we will see that the decisions that we have taken here are implemented.

When I say all of us who have assembled here are committed with much greater determination than we were earlier to see that the Vilnius decisions are implemented and the resolution is acted upon, I am sure that I am not making overstatement. I once again thank you and all those who made this conference a success and an occasion to remember.