World Tibet Network News Friday, June 19, 1998

HELSINKI, June 18 (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama will meet both public interest and political reticence when he arrives in Helsinki on Friday for his third visit to Finland.

``Over 2,000 people from all over Finland, from as far away as Lapland, are coming to hear his talk,'' said Ulrika Karhu, an official at Helsinki's Museum of Art and Design, which is hosting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

The organisers said Saturday's public lecture had to be moved from a 700-seat theatre to a major conference venue, with a screen in an adjoining hall for the overflow.

The Dalai Lama will not meet top Finnish politicians, as Finnish policy shuns political contact with him to safeguard relations with China, which rules Tibet, a government official told Reuters.

The Dalai Lama will meet Culture Minister Claes Andersson on Saturday because his visit is linked to an exhibition of Tibetan art at the museum, the official said.

``It is disappointing that no foreign policy decision-makers will meet him. It shows how old-fashioned Finnish foreign policy is,'' said Pirjo-Riitta Antvuori, a Conservative deputy.

Antvuori, eleven other parliamentarians and representatives of human rights group Amnesty International will meet the Dalai Lama on Saturday.

The Dalai Lama will arrive from Austria on Friday evening and will leave for India on Sunday morning.