MOU Between OCA and EOC 17-07-2006

Meeting between the President, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) H.E. Sheikh Ahmad al fahad al sabah and the European Olympic Committees (EOC) President, Mr Mario Pescante and Secretary General, Mr Patrick Hickey in Kuwait on 17th of July 2006

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the OCA and the EOC relating to assistance for Iraqi athletes preparing for the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006 and the Games of thee XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008.

Following the request of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) to assist the Iraqi athletes in finding adequate training opportunities and in view of the unstable security situation prevalent in Iraq at the moment, the OCA and the EOC have agreed, in a gesture of solidarity and with the complete support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to collaborate in order to assist the Iraqi athletes and teams in their preparations for the Asian and Olympic Games.

The OCA and the EOC will encourage their constituent NOCs to mobilise all efforts to offer training and coaching possibilities to Iraqi athletes allowing them to concentrate on the practice of their sport.

The EOC will host a further meeting during their General Assembly in Rome at the end of this month to discuss the technical aspects of this project with representatives of the OCA, the IOC and the contributing NOCs.

Joint statement on the situation relating to the kidnapping of the President, Secretary General and members of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq

The OCA and the EOC expressed their concern about the kidnapping of the President, Secretary General and members of the NOCI that took place on Saturday in Baghdad and reiterated their hope for the captive’s immediate release so that the NOCI could resume its primary task of supporting athletes, organising sport in Iraq and contributing to the Olympic Movement.

The OCA and the EOC strongly condemned these kidnappings which are a severe setback to the development of the youth of Iraq and called for the immediate release of the NOCI officials.

Mr. Mario Pescante and Mr. Patrick Hickey, along with Mr. James Macleod, Project Manager, IOC Olympic Solidarity also visited the site of the new OCA headquarters and expressed their appreciation for the State of the Art facilities being provided by the OCA to its Member NOCs as well as the sports fraternity in Asia.