(TibetanReview.net, Oct25’22) – Newly elected Giorgia Meloni, the first woman Prime Minister of Italy, has responded warmly to the Dalai Lama’s congratulatory message of Oct 23, saying she felt honoured by it.
“I am honored by the message of affection that the Dalai Lama wanted to convey to me and the government. I take this opportunity to renew our feeling of friendship to him,” the IANS news service Oct 24 quoted Meloni as having said of the 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate and his congratulatory message.
In his congratulatory message, the exile spiritual leader of Tibet wrote: “I would like to say that I am pleased to see that the new Prime Minister of Italy is a woman, because I believe, and there is scientific evidence to demonstrate it, that women are more empathetic and sensitive to the feelings of others. Consequently they show greater warm-heartedness and concern for others’ well-being.”
He further wrote: “These are very challenging times for Italy and the whole of humanity. In today’s highly interdependent world, individuals and nations can no longer resolve the problems they face alone. We are reliant on the wider community to survive; therefore we need to show greater kindness and compassion to one another.”
Meloni, 45, is well-known for her pro-Tibet stance. In Aug 2008, she, while being the Minister of Youth, invited Italian athletes to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in disagreement with the Chinese policy implemented towards Tibet.
At 31, she was the youngest-ever minister in the history of united Italy at that time.
A critic of China, she is also known to be a supporter of closer ties between Italy and Taiwan.