11 January 2006
US ambassador and UNHCR Chief Lays foundation of Tibetan Reception Centre
(Phayul) The US ambassador to Nepal, James Morairy, and the Chief of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal, Abraham Abraham, have laid the foundation stone of a new Tibetan reception centre in Kathmandu. At a ceremony, Drupthop Rinpoche performed a Buddhist ground breaking ritual and the US ambassador laid the foundation stone. He also briefly spoke to over one thousand Tibetan refugees currently stranded at the Tibetan reception centre in Kathmandu due to the Nepalese government's restrictions on transit permits to India since 25 October last year. The US ambassador said: “It is an honour for me to be here today to represent my government. We understand the conditions in which you live (…). The bond between the people of Tibet and the people of the United States grows stronger all the time". The project is mainly being financed by the US government and partly by the Tibetan exile government in Dharamsala, India. Also present during the function were the staff of the Lutherane World Federation, an international non-governmental organization, which became responsible for supervising the TRC under the directions and guidance of the UNHCR after the Dalai lama’s office in Nepal was closed by Nepal government in February 2005.