Meeting of the Support Fund Committee for the Eradication of Doping

Khalid Issa Al Midfaa, Assistant Secretary-General of the General Authority of Sports (GAS), attended part of the extraordinary meeting of the Support Fund Committee for Doping Elimination in Sports under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “UNESCO”. The meeting was hosted by the UAE to confirm its position on the regional and global map, being the first time the meeting is held outside the Committee’s headquarters in France since it was established in 2008. The meeting was held in the presence of Dr. Rima Al Hosani, President of the Fund, Marcos Diaz, Head of the Executive Office of the Conference of the Seven States Parties to UNESCO, and members of the Fund Committee from Russia, Italy, India and Zambia. The rest of the Committee members, and representatives of the secretariat participated via video technology, along with Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences in “UNESCO”, and Anne Jansen, representative of Evaluation Department of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In his opening speech, Al Midfaa pointed out that the UAE’s hosting of the meeting confirms the great position of the country at global level, its unique achievements to eliminate sports doping, as well as the UAE’s ability to contribute with member states to achieving the goals of the Fund by educating young athletes all over the world about the dangers of doping. He also complimented Dr. Rima Al Hosani on her great role, as the first woman to chair the Fund, and highlighted the Committee’s efforts under the leadership of the UAE, which has won the confidence of the international community by launching targeted initiatives, including the focus on studying the challenges faced by countries to address doping in sports. The Assistant Secretary-General affirmed GAS’s support for the National Anti-Doping Agency to enhance its anti-doping capabilities at both local and international levels, and wished success for the work of this committee, hoping that it would be a promising start for joint work.