Sarkozy to meet Dalai Lama - in December

He might not be meeting the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, during his current 12-day trip to France, but the Dalai Lama will have the chance to come face-to-face with him in December.

Representatives for Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and Sarkozy's office have confirmed that the two men will meet on December 10, when the French president is due to hold a reception for Nobel peace prize winners in Paris.

That will probably be of some comfort to a man who has accepted with the good grace for which he is famous, the decision of the French government not to hold any official reception for him during his current visit.

That choice was made - and accepted by both sides - ahead of his arrival, on the grounds that it would be inappropriate timing during, coinciding as the trip does with the Olympic games in Beijing.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama once again confirmed his full support for the Olympic games - reiterating his belief that China had always merited the decision taken by the IOC to organise the games.

Sarkozy has also been eager to avoid unnecessarily upsetting the Chinese government, although he has also made clear that is not for Beijing to "set his diary."

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama met a delegation of French parliamentarians, although again it was not as part of an official reception as the president of the Senate, Christian Poncelet, toed the government line and slapped a veto on a formal ceremony.

From Friday, the Dalai Lama will give a series of teachings in the western French city of Nantes and on Saturday he's due to meet the defeated Socialist party candidate in last year's French presidential elections, Ségolène Royal.

Some critics are suggesting that Royal is perhaps using the meeting as a possibility for some political point scoring ahead of the Socialist party's vote in November on a new leader for the party.

On August 22 it'll be the turn of France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to meet the Dalai Lama when she attends the opening of a Buddhist temple in southern France.