KUALA LUMPUR — The Sports Ministers and Heads of Delegation of the South East Asian Nations meeting on Sports (AMMS) agreed that the Asean Work Plan on Sports 2021-2025 involving Asean countries be carried out.
The decision was made during the five-day meeting held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Monday and attended by the Youth and Sports Ministry’s chief secretary K. Nagulendran on behalf of the ministry.
The meeting recognised that sustainable development cooperation was a strategic priority of Asean and the key to promoting sustainability in the region.
Asean also needed to be future-oriented and better prepared for the future by making use of technological advances.
The KBS statement said, they also discussed the promotion and preservation of traditional sports involving women in sports whereby Malaysia will host the Asean Women in Sports Conference that is scheduled from November 14 to 16.
Also discussed was the outcome of the First Technical Working Group Meeting for the Preparation of Asean’s Joint Bid for the Fifa World Cup 2034 (1st TWG-FWC) and recognise the importance of understanding Fifa’s requirements and assessing the feasibility of hosting the event before considering the formulation of a bid document.
Consistent with the commitment to engage youth in sports for skills development, the delegates commended Thailand for spearheading the promotion of sports for youth crime prevention through collaboration with the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ).
“We express our appreciation for the successful convening of a panel discussion on ‘We win as one: Unveiling Success Stories in Sports for Youth Crime Prevention in Asean Region’ on the margins of the Fourteenth Asean Senior Officials Meeting on Sports,” said the AMMS.
The statement said Malaysia had pledged its commitment and preparedness to become the hub for sports excellence at the Asean level in providing training and the initiative needs to cooperation and support of all member countries and dialogue partners.
The successful delivery of priorities, which has reaffirmed the commitment of the Asean sports sector to strengthen cooperation in realising an active Asean Community by harnessing sports as an essential means of advancing socio-cultural development and promoting peace and unity.
“The Asean Ministerial meeting on sports is seen as a platform in the region to enhance cooperation related to sports development and using sports as a medium to promote peace, unity and economic potentials in the sports industry,” said the statement. — September 1, 2023