At the joint invitation of the Minsk European Games Organizing Committee and the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies, the first high-level expert-diplomatic conference titled “Sports diplomacy: creating opportunities through sport” under auspices of the 2nd European Games and at the moment of the sports competitions at the DINAMO Stadium was held in Minsk, Belarus, on June 25, 2019. The meeting was opened by Mr Janez Kocijancic, President of the European Olympic Committees, and co-chaired by Dr Oleg Makarov, Director of Belarusian Institute of Strategic Researches, and Mr Anatoly Kotov, Deputy CEO of the Minsk European Games Organising Committee.
High-level representatives of diplomatic corps, international organizations, and sports officials from European countries attended the conference.
The conference was conducted in the context of significant historical momentum on aligning Sport to Diplomacy for promoting and achieving peace, security, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, the objective of the conference was to discuss strategies and policies to strengthen sports diplomacy capacities in building bridges between countries, communities, and people, and to maximize the benefits of investing in sport.
The participants discussed the role Olympic values, civil society and the volunteer movement, high-ranking officials and experts in these processes.
The event was held in a unique atmosphere of trusteeship, friendship and unity.
Based on the results of thorough discussions, the Participants came up with the following:
‑ Olympic values of excellence, respect, friendship and fair play help to establish trust and overcome political and cultural differences, promote non-conflict dialogue of societies;
‑ sport and sports competitions at the highest level fruitfully affect the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, strengthen social ties and local communities, can benefit both a host country and her foreign guests.
‑ sport and sports competitions at the highest level promote inclusivity and volunteer engagement.
The participants urged to use sports diplomacy for maintaining peace and security in international relations in general.
The participants requested to consider the development of a sports diplomacy strategy based on the principle of cooperation of athletes, experts, politicians, and civil society representatives.
Noting the positive effect of the conference, the participants expressed high interest in further supporting top-level sporting events with a tradition of holding sports diplomacy forums as an informal way of supporting mutual understanding, tolerance and peace.
The participants underlined the importance of finding ways that can turn that vision into action.
