Dharamsala, Oct 14 (IANS): Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay has been bestowed with the Presidential Medal by Salisbury University in Maryland in the US for promoting peace and understanding, his office said on Wednesday.

The Presidential Medal is the highest honour awarded by the university to an individual, the Central Tibetan Administration, which Sangay is heading in exile, said in a statement.

Quoting Janet Dudley-Eshbach, the president of Salisbury University, it said the medal was dedicated to the sufferings of the Tibetan people, and the non-violent Tibetan movement to restore freedom and dignity across Tibet.

"It sends a message to the Chinese government that they should embrace the peaceful and reconciliatory spirit of the Tibetan people, and solve the issue of Tibet," Sangay said at the awards' ceremony at the university on Tuesday.

He said it was a message to the world beset with violent conflicts that peace and harmony could only be brought about through non-violence.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a long-time friend of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, also congratulated Sangay. Tutu said that Sangay got the honour at a time when there is so much turmoil and suffering caused by violence and unrest.

"I am delighted to write this short note to congratulate you on receiving the President's Medal for promoting peace and understanding, especially at this time when we see so much turmoil and suffering caused by violence and unrest," he said in a letter to Sangay.

"The world has been stunned by the number of refugees seeking to flee violence and unrest. Our world needs more champions of peace and goodwill of which you are one," he wrote.

The Tibetan administration is based in this northern Indian hill town.