Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Dalai Lama cancels visit to Switzerland

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has called off his planned visit to Switzerland next month for health reasons.

He was due to attend an inter-religious celebration, take part in an event for the 40th anniversary of the Tibet Institute near Zurich and possibly meet a member of the Swiss government.

Doctors advised the 73-year-old to reduce the number of his foreign trips, according to the Indian-based headquarters of the Tibet government in exile.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was treated for abdominal pain at a hospital in Mumbai at the end of last month.

He also had to call off two other foreign trips.

During his last visit to Switzerland three years ago around 10,000 people came to hear him talk at a conference in Zurich.

Switzerland is home to an estimated 3,500 Tibetans. They are said to form the biggest Tibetan community in Europe, and the third largest in the world.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR