As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao prepares to leave on a European trip, which includes a visit to Germany, a public opinion survey has found that the Dalai Lama is the leading international figure that the German people admire the most.

A survey by the German polling institute Forsa for the German weekly “Stern”, which was released on September 6, 2006, has found that 61 percent of Germans rated the Dalai Lama as an international model. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan came second with 56 percent and Pope Benedict secured 51 per cent.

In 2002, a poll by the German magazine Geo Wissen placed the Dalai Lama in the top of the list among personalities the German people admired.