Brazilia
THE Philippines and Brazil have inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will improve sports cooperation between the two countries.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Ricardo Garcia and the National Secretary of Brazil's Ministry of Sports, Toninho Nascimento, signed a MOU on Sports Cooperation at the Ministry of Sport in Brasilia, Brazil on March 22.
"The MOU between the PSC and Brazil's Ministry of Sport will open doors to cooperation between both countries in the area of sports," Garcia said.
The MOU will provide the Philippines and Brazil with a framework for sports cooperation through the exchange of expertise in areas such as institutional cooperation; science and technology applied to sports; sports medicine; combating doping; using sports as a tool for social inclusion; and training of sports specialists and practitioners.
The signing of the MOU was preceded by a meeting between the Philippine delegation and Brazil's Ministry of Sports and Ministry of External Relations.
During the meeting both sides discussed ways by which the MOU can be implemented. A key aspect of the cooperation program will be in the form of technical support from Brazil, particularly in the areas of football and beach volleyball. The initial step will involve assessment and consultations by both sides in order to identify needs and requirements.
"We need to know first what needs to be done so that we can develop a specific project or program in that area. Once we have developed a specific proposal or program, we then proceed to implementation in partnership with our Brazilian counterparts," Garcia said.
"Our collaboration with Brazil will focus in two areas, high performance training and using sports as a tool for social inclusion. We would like to concentrate these efforts at the youth levels and the grassroots. Brazil and the Philippines both share the view that sports is a powerful tool in nation-building and an effective mechanism in addressing social issues such as criminality, drugs, gangs, homelessness and out of school youths," he added. (SDR/Sunnex)
