Doha: 

Last Monday, the Qatar Olympic Academy held a seminar on sports diplomacy and the strategic approach of the European Union countries in sports in cooperation with the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum 321 in the presence of more than eighty people from various sectors and institutions of the state as well as many interested in this field.

The seminar was presented by Professor Thierry Zintz, former Dean of the Faculty of Sports Sciences at the University de Leuven in Belgium and Executive Director of the International Olympic Committee-accredited Professional Master's Program (MEMOS), with long experience in the field of Olympic culture, sports planning and management.

During the seminar, the professor addressed many axes and examples in this topic.

He stressed that logical progress confirms that sports diplomacy is a resource of real soft power that is used with the aim of creating ideal results in international relations.

Sport has proven to be a cost-effective and flexible tool for promoting peace and development goals among governments, since the beginning of the Millennium Development Goals sport has played a vital role in the multiple resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015, the role of sport in promoting social progress has continued to be recognized.

The professor also emphasized the role of sport in the strength of international relations through the establishment of strong and coherent partnerships that are fundamental to the real improvement of global development and to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The world is more interconnected than ever before, and sport, as a global phenomenon, has the potential to connect influential networks of disparate partners and stakeholders united by a commitment to lasting development. In this regard, the world of sport can provide strong networks, including partners and stakeholders, committed to sport for sustainable development.

A notable example is the cooperation between the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee, being an observer entity in the United Nations General Assembly and serving as a key partner of the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace with multiple joint initiatives in the area of sport for development and peace.

In the same context, it is worth mentioning that the holding of this seminar at the headquarters of the Olympic and Sports Museum is the first cooperation between the Academy and the Museum after the signing of the cooperation agreement between the two parties in order to reach the common goals between them.

Coordination is also under way between the two parties to hold Olympic culture workshops at the museum's headquarters as it is the ideal environment to receive this type of science because of the valuable exhibits contained in the museum that serve as a valuable practical lesson for students and those wishing to obtain historical and important information about the emergence of the ancient Olympic movement BC as well as the modern Olympic Games founded by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896.