Board Members present – Martin Gurvich, Lakshmi Vyas and Marie Mandakini joined by secretary Carine.

The Board of HFE met on 9 ^th and 10 ^th March at Brussels to finalise and decide the annual General Assembly at Lisbon and Diwali at Brussels Parliament. This involved meeting several MPs/Secretaries, Dignitaries and associated persons

On 9 ^th we met Fearghas Obeara advisor to the Vice President of the European Parliament McGuiness. The discussions were centred on matters of Religions and Philosophical Communities. Prabhu Anuttama Dasa, Communications coordinator for ISKCON Communication International also joined us. The meeting was fruitful.

During the afternoon, we met up with secretary of Geoffrey Van Orden, Anne Jayne for detailed discussion and commitments on forthcoming sit in dinner in the member’s restaurant and Diwali celebrations on 11 ^TH October 2017. The discussion focussed on number of people attending the event, restaurant facilities, table arrangements, the cost and logistics. It was sad the Anne will be moving to another department and we shall miss her contributions to HFE. The meeting took place in Micky Mouse Café where the assistant of Dennis de Jong also joined us.

Later the Board met at HFE office for detailed discussion and planning point by point the various nuances of the Diwali event. The meeting concluded around 7.00 pm.

Next day 10 ^th of March the communication officer of ISKCON India Yudhistira Govinda Dasa joined us for all the meetings. The meeting continued from where it was left the previous day. Some important points discussed was to get a special guest for the event, which can boost and raise the standard of the event.

It was decided to have 6 persons per table with 2 VIPs, talks by MPs, Presidents, ambassadors, spiritual leaders, podium arrangements, cultural event, work distribution among the board members, Diwali magazine, adverts, articles, and photographs.

The meeting concluded with thanks to the chair and Tea. The team visited incredible India show room to canvass for the event and their support. Lakshmi and Mandakini went to Radhadesh for the night before returning to their respective countries.

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