1:33PM Thursday June 14, 2007
Prime Minister Helen Clark met with the Dalai Lama in Australia today.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the meeting happened by "serendipity" at an airport, and the pair discussed issues for some time.
The vexed issue of meetings with the Dalai Lama is due to China's sensitivity over the occupation of Tibet.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister confirmed the meeting took place in a lounge at Brisbane Airport this morning.
The pair discussed New Zealand initiatives to promote inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, including the recent meeting at Waitangi of the Asia Pacific Regional Inter-Faith Dialogue, and the Auckland meeting of the Symposium on the United Nations and Alliance of Civilisations.
The Dalai Lama indicated that New Zealand's model of reconciliation with indigenous people was of great interest to him, along with the implication that New Zealand practiced inter-cultural dialogue in its own domestic policy, the spokesperson said.
The meeting lasted about 10 minutes.
Mr Peters told a select committee he would be meeting with the Dalai Lama in his capacity as leader of New Zealand First.
- NZPA
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