German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul will meet with the Dalai Lama, a government spokesman announced on Wednesday, May 14.
No other meetings between the exiled Tibetan and German government members have been announced.
The meeting will take place in Berlin on May 19, the last day of the Dalai Lama's five-day visit that starts on Thursday, the spokesman said.
Scheduling conflicts
The unavailability of government heads to meet with the Dalai Lama caused a row in Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition.
Merkel, who met with the Dalai Lama at the federal chancellery last September, is in Latin America. Merkel, however, has said that she is willing to meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader again in the future when her schedule allows it.
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President Horst Koehler has also ruled out a meeting because of scheduling difficulties, prompting accusations that he was kowtowing to the Chinese.
Appeasing the Chinese?
Merkel's previous meeting with the Dalai Lama chilled relations between Berlin and Beijing that ended only in January after intense German diplomatic efforts.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who enjoys huge popularity in Germany, will attend a conference and speak on human rights and religion in four cities before travelling to the German capital.
(Deutsche Welle)
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