Sao Paulo, Brazil, 15 September 2011 - His Holiness
the Dalai Lama arrived in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, three
hours later than his scheduled plan of arrival, at 12:30pm due to long
flight delay from Buenos Aires. As soon as he arrived at the São
Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, he was received by Prof. Lia
Diskin, Co-founder of the Palas Athena Association and host of the
visit, Dr. Eduardo Jorget Martins Alves Sobrinho and Jose Gregory of the
Soa Paulo City government, Mrs. Abhilash Joshi of the Indian Consulate
General and members of the Dharma Centers in Brazil.
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama is
greeted by cameramen as he arrives at the World Trade Center in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, on September 15, 2011. Photo/Reuters/Nacho Doce
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From the airport, His Holiness left straight by
motorcade to the World Trade Center theater, a venue for His Holiness’
address to business and industrial leaders of Brazil. As he entered the
Convention Center of the World Trade Center on his way to the theater,
he was greeted by a large number of cameramen. At the theater, he was
received by Dr. Cristiane Bomeny, an industrialist and daughter of the
family which owns World Trade Center in Sao Paulo, Dr. Ozires Silva, a
Brazil’s pioneer industrialist, Mr. Fernando Levy, President of the
Business Forum of Brazil, and Mr. Affif Domingos, Vice Governor of the
State of Sao Paulo.
In his address to the Brazilian industrialists and business leaders, His
Holiness said that 20th century had witnessed too much bloodshed and
millions of people had lost their lives. Therefore, he said, we cannot
afford to repeat that history in the 21st century. This century, he
said, must be a century of dialogue. He added that no matter how much
we try, problems will still remain and will remain as a part of our
life. However, he said, the important thing is that we must resolve
these differences and problems through dialogue. The use of force and
violence, he said, is outdated.
One of the sources of problems, he said, is a huge gap between rich and
poor everywhere. Therefore, he said, the privileged people,
particularly the business leaders, should shoulder more responsibility
to help the poor by investing in the fields of education, health and
other social sectors. He also said that natural resources are not
infinite and therefore efforts must be made to have more sustainable
growth with adequate attention being made to the ecology. He said that
industrial and business leaders must be visionary so that every effort
they make will ultimately benefit society.
Despite being late for him to depart, His Holiness spoke for nearly two
hours at this important forum and also attended to questions from the
audience. The audience members, who flew to Sao Paulo from various
parts of Brazil, paid a great attention to his talk and listened to His
Holiness’ talk very enthusiastically. .
Later after the conclusion of the event, he offered scarf to Dr. Ozires
Silva and Dr. Christiane Bomeny and thanked them for organizing the
event.
