NEWS UPDATE FEBRUARY 2003
Kalmykia President Visits Dharamsala to Meet the Dalai Lama
ICT, Wednesday, December 25, 2002
The President of the Kalmykia Republic in the Russian Federation, Kirsan Nikolayevich llyumzhinov, arrived in Dharamsala on December 24, 2002 for a meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Ilyumzhinov is leading a seven-member delegation, which includes a member of parliament, Kalmykia's Permanent Representative in Moscow, some business leaders, and Telo Rinpoche, prominent Kalmykia Buddhist leader, the Tibetan language Voice of Tibet radio reported.
In addition to meeting the Dalai Lama, the delegation will meet Tibetan Government officials and visit some institutions during their two-day stay in Dharamsala. The Kalmykia President has visited Dharamsala several times in recent years.
Ilyumzhinov, who has met the Dalai Lama in the past, had invited him for a visit to Kalmykia this year. Around 46 per cent of Kalmykia's population is Buddhists. The visit could not take place as the Russian Government denied visas to the Dalai Lama and his entourage.
On April 12, 1993 llyumzhinov became the first elected President of the Republic
of Kalmykia. On October 27, 2002, he was reelected for the third term.