Dharamshala: A group of Swedish Parliamentary Delegation-led by honourable Margareta Elisabeth Cederfelt, who were visiting Dharamshala to attend the 63rd anniversary of the Tibetan Democracy Day today, held a press conference to express their support for the Tibetan people.

The visiting delegation consists of honourable MPs Margareta Elisabeth Cederfelt, Johanna Hornberger, Marie Charlotte Nicholson, Maria Viktoriam Stockhaus, Alexandra Anstrell, Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage, John E Weinerhall from the Moderate Party; Hon. MPs Richard Johannes Jomshof and Björn Söder from the Sweden Democrats Party; Hon. MP Gudrun Margareta Brunegard from the Christian Democrats Party; Hon. MP Janine Sofia Alm Ericson from the Green Party and Carl Mattias and Kristina Eva Maria Bjornerstedt of Swedish Tibet Committee. The delegation were accompanied by Representative Sonam Tsering Frasi and Secretary Lobsang Choedon Samten from the Office of Tibet, London.

DIIR Secretary Karma Choeying commended the visiting delegation for attending the press conference which he said would give hope to Tibetans that they are not forgotten by the world.

MP Margareta Elisabeth Cederfelt shared that the eleven MPs in her group were from four different parties. She also spoke about her positive meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and stressed on the importance of his message advocating for peace.

Lauding the exile Tibetan democracy, she said that it gave equal voting rights to everybody irrespective of their gender, age and other social classifications and similarly everybody had equal rights to stand for election.

Condemning the colonial boarding school system in Tibet by China, she urged China to give Tibetans the freedom to practice their religion, culture, language and preserve their Tibetan identity. She added that the Swedish Tibetan Parliamentary Support Group was engaged in raising the issue of Tibet and writing bills.

This was followed by the MP answering questions posed by the local press personnel.

In response to a question on the Swedish government’s support in welfare programmes for the Tibetan people, she said that although the Swedish government could not extend political and financial aid on the level that the USA does, however, they would see that they are able to support programmes by raising discussions on the subject with their constituencies and the Tibetan community.

On being asked to share a message for Tibetans inside Tibet, she said that the MPs understood the extent to which Tibetans in Tibet were suffering under the repressive conditions and the Tibetans are not alone in their struggle and expressed solidarity for Tibetans inside Tibet.

The press conference was hosted by the Department of Information and International Relations(DIIR).