Delegates take part in the second AMMS 8+China on October 17 in Hà Nội. — Photos of SAV

HÀ NỘI — ASEAN and partners have pledged to strengthen cooperation to boost sport development for a for a prosperous, sustainable community in their conferences within the eighth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Sports (AMMS 8) on October 17 in Hà Nội.

Sports Ministers and Heads of Delegations of ASEAN and China gathered together in the second AMMS 8+China.

Việt Nam's Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoàng Đạo Cương – chairing the meet – said: "ASEAN-China sports cooperation has achieved many remarkable results in recent times, especially in professional exchange, improving training capacity, developing community sports and school sports.

"The cooperation activities have contributed to strengthening friendship, mutual understanding and creating a foundation for harmonious development among countries in the region."

He said Việt Nam highly appreciated China's initiatives in supporting the training of coaches and athletes, organising training courses, cultural and sports exchange activities, and acknowledges China's success in organising major international sports events such as the Beijing Olympics and the Asian Games.

These are useful models for ASEAN to learn from, especially in event management, organisation and professional sports development.

Co-chairing the conference, Li Jing, vice minister of the General Administration of Sport of China, emphasised the long-standing friendship and comprehensive cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, considering ASEAN as a leading important partner in its neighborly foreign policy.

Sport was identified as a field with great influence, playing a bridging role in enhancing understanding, solidarity and cooperation between the people of the two sides.

China expressed a desire to promote sports cooperation based on the spirit of “joint cooperation and common development”, affirming that it would continue to share experiences and support ASEAN in training coaches, developing community sports, school sports and high-performance sports.

China also proposed to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and organise joint sports events, especially traditional sports, to promote cultural identity and regional solidarity.

Delegates adopted the ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Sports, reaffirming sports play a crucial role in fostering people-to-people connections and are a valuable component of ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Two sides would implement projects and activities to promote diversity, friendship and inclusivity through sportsmanship; provide the sports professionals for capacity building and skills development programmes; promote healthy lifestyles among the peoples by participating in sports.

They encourage local sports cooperation and try to preserve and enhance traditional sports and games across ASEAN and China to safeguard cultural identities.

Earlier, the fifth AMMS 8+ Japan meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Minister Cương and Junichi Kawai, member of the Japan Sports Agency under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Delegates meet in the fifth AMMS 8+ Japan where they agree to join more hands to push sport development.

The Deputy Minister affirmed that the cooperation relationship between ASEAN and Japan was strengthened and developed over the years.

Through cooperation programmes, two sides jointly implemented many meaningful projects, contributing to improving the level of sports in the region, especially in exchanging knowledge and sharing cooperation for mutual development in areas of community interests such as gender equality, sports for people with disabilities, school sports and sustainable development goals through sports.

He said Japan was a country with advanced sports, professional organisation model and comprehensive training system. ASEAN learned and absorbed many valuable experiences from Japan in sports development.

Junichi highlighted the spirit of “heart-to-heart” cooperation between ASEAN and Japan, affirming Japan’s commitment to continuing its partnership with ASEAN nations in building a comprehensively developed society through sports, and by sharing values, experiences, and technologies in which Japan excels.

Both two sides agreed to remain its commitment to the advancement of ASEAN-Japan friendship and partnership in sports cooperation by strengthening policy dialogue and fostering mutual sports collaborations.

They looked forward for collaborative regional initiatives including development of a comprehensive coaching system within ASEAN members; the subsequent establishment of the Professional Learning Community for Physical Education Teacher Education and Sports for People with Disability (SPD); and the follow-up collaboration initiatives between ASEAN and Japan on leveraging the contribution of sports to fulfilling development outcomes and achieving the SDGs.

They also encouraged more opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and dialogues on sports industry and sports tourism to benefit peoples across the region. — VNS