Today, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ Minister of State for Sport Dr. Tünde Szabó received in her office the Chief Financial Officer of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Abdullah Alghamdi, President of the Saudi Arabian Water Polo Association Nasser Aldeghaither, President of the Saudi Arabian Weight Lifting Polo Association Mohammed Alharbi, Director-General of the Saudi Arabian Football Association Adel Albatti and Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Budapest H.E. Mohammed Abdulhaddi Almatrafi.
At the meeting, the parties discussed current issues in sport and possible directions or development after which the Minister of State reported on the most recent successes of Hungarian sports policy achieved since the last Saudi-Hungarian negotiations. Ms. Szabó highlighted the fact that 1 million 200 thousand Hungarian school children are doing some kind of sport every single day within the framework of the Everyday Physical Education introduced by the Government and that the number of registered athletes is continuously increasing, by 66 percent among state-prioritized sports and by 72% among popular team sports, in addition to which she also spoke about the Government’s various sports infrastructure development projects.
On the subject of future plans, the Minister of State for Sport highlighted the fact that the Ministry was currently focusing on the fields of sports health, education and vocational training through creating high quality conditions at the National Institute for Sports Medicine (OSEI), renovating and expanding the University of Physical Education, and through setting up a special laboratory to test nutritional supplements. Ms. Szabó also mentioned the establishment and testing of the National Information System as one of the important projects for this year.
The Saudi delegation expressed great interest with relation to the construction and development of these facilities and their economic, public health and social aspects.
The delegation also called for the development of further opportunities for cooperation within both the fields of education and vocational training, and with relation to individual sports. Mr. Alghamdi praised the excellent performance of Hungary’s athletes and expressed his hope that tighter future sports relations, conferences, exchange programmes and possible joint sports camps would also contribute to further improving the country’s sports results.
The Minister of State for Sport pointed out that Hungary is hosting 81 international sports competitions in 2017, including the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, the FINA World Aquatics Championships, the Europa Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) and the World Judo Championships.
During their visit to Hungary, the Saudi Arabian sports officials will also be visiting, amongst others, the Danube Arena and the Groupama Arena.