UN Official Lauds Role Of Sport In European Union Development Programmes

New York, Nov 10 2009 4:10PM A senior United Nations official today praised the European Commission for its use of sport in bringing together diverse communities within the continent’s geo-political bloc, as well as helping people in poor countries.

“Mainstreaming sport in all the areas where the European Commission is working, particularly the use of sport for social change and integration within the European Union member States, but also in the assistance towards developing countries, is a very crucial step,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke.

Mr. Lemke, who is on a visit to Brussels, is slated to restart an EU-UN partnership in the arena of sport for development and peace, and to discuss potential collaboration with heads of UN agencies.

“The EU will definitely be an important partner in the reactivation of the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group,” he said.

Following his visit to Brussels, the Special Adviser will head to Dubai, where he will be chairing the Global Agenda Council on the Role of Sports in Society set up by the World Economic Forum last year.

After that he travels to South Africa to attend the inauguration of the first Football for Hope Center in Cape Town, as well as the inauguration of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Sport Science and Development of the University of Western Cape.

ENDS