Sports partnership activation urged

Manama : A call to activate partnership with sports authorities came out on the concluding day of the First Arab Conference on Sport, which was recently held in Bahrain.

The conference was organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs in cooperation with the United Nations Office in Bahrain and the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Sports and Recreation (ICHPER.SD).

This subject was announced in the final session of the conference, presented by Jordan’s Dr Moayyed Wahsha, in an attempt to achieve sustainable development goals.

Joined by other participants, Jordan’s Hashemite University associate professor Wahsha said the responsibility of activating the initiatives to promote the role of sport in the societies is not limited to one side, and considered it is an integrative process between various authorities in any nation.

“The problems can’t be limited to certain parts, and the solutions can’t be limited to others,” he said during his session, which focused on the role of sport in achieving social confidence from an economic point of view. “One hand does not clap, roles must be defined and call things by their proper names”

He added: “A country is responsible to provide its support by monitoring budgets that helps in guiding the youth to sport exercising, and this is an certainly an indirect way for investment.”

On his part, Dr Ashraf Sobhi of Egypt described sport as the ‘Mine’, which should be rediscovered in different periods for its impact in boosting sustainable development movement, especially in countries that have long-term sports plans.

He reviewed several files in his keynote, which includes economic and sport investment dimension, the most prominent of which is the use of technology in promoting sport as one of the priorities in any society, considering that sport has direct economic and social dimensions and must be coordinated through technological progress.

Shaikh Saqer bin Salman Al Khalifa, the ministry’s assistant undersecretary for youth centres, said the Kingdom of Bahrain is aware of the role of sport in the sustainable development and general policies to terminate poverty and develop citizens lifestyle.

“The role of sport in achieving sustainable development goals is a reflection of the efforts of His Highness Shaikh Nasser. Sport is a ‘Culture’, and has economic, political,  social and health dimensions that can help to make a big change in any nation,” said Shaikh Saqer.

Egyptian parliament council member and former National Olympic Committee member Dr Ranya Alwani thanked Bahrain for bringing such a crucial event, which in her opinion has achieved the desired objectives.