By Abhishek Madhukar

DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters) - U.S. officials met the Dalai Lama in northern India on Monday to discuss ways to resolve problems of the Tibetan people ahead of the spiritual leader's visit to the United States this month, officials said.

Analysts said the talks, with the U.S. delegation led by White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett, could also help restart contacts between the Tibetan spiritual leader and China.

The two-hour meeting took place in Dharamsala, headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"She (Jarrett) came to brief His Holiness on President Obama's administration's focus on Tibet," Tenzin Taklha, an aide to the Dalai Lama, told Reuters.

The Tibetan spiritual leader's office said Jarrett expressed President Barack Obama's interest in helping the exiled government find a solution to Tibetan's difficulties. Obama's forthcoming visit to China was also discussed.

"His Holiness conveyed to Ms. Jarrett the issues that he would like President Obama to take when he visits China," the Dalai Lama's office said.

"His Holiness... was hopeful that during his presidency (Obama) the Tibetan people can see progress in the resolution of their problem," a Tibetan government statement added.

Obama is due to visit China later this year for talks experts say seek to improve ties and to revive global economic growth.

But experts also say any meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama during the latter's U.S. visit could hurt ties with Beijing.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" who aims to separate nearly a quarter of the land mass of the country and it strongly objects to any head of state meeting the Tibetan leader.

The 74-year-old Dalai Lama is scheduled to give a series of religious teachings in United States and Canada from September 23 onwards. His aides say that he could meet Obama in early October.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denies any suggestion that he is a separatist and says he seeks greater rights for Tibetans.

Experts said Monday's talks could favor a resumption of talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese authorities.

"President Obama's approach indicates that he recognizes a strategic opportunity for substantive progress on the Tibet issue beyond symbolic gestures," Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said in a statement.

"The presence of this high-level White House delegation in Dharamsala raises expectations for discussion of the Tibet issue at the U.S.-China Summit in November."

(Additional reporting and writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Ron Popeski)