DOHA: The Board of Directors of the Olympic Refugee Foundation held its annual meeting for the year 2024 on Monday in Doha, with the participation of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, and member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, President of the Olympic Refugee Foundation, in the presence of Filippo Grandi, Vice President of the Foundation, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, along with members of the Board of Directors of the Olympic Refugee Foundation.
Dr Thomas Bach opened the meeting with a welcome speech in which he praised Doha’s hosting and Qatar’s effective role in supporting the Olympic Refugee Foundation.
In his speech during the meeting, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani said:“We are committed to expanding our partnership with the Olympic Refugee Foundation to provide a year-round safe haven for refugee athletes, their coaches and technical officials from all over the world, providing them with training opportunities and benefiting from the sports facilities in the city of Doha to develop their levels.”
For her part, Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater said:“Qatar has demonstrated how sport can build bridges of communication and promote mutual understanding and peace. We have invested in sport as a means of bringing together the world’s people from different cultural backgrounds and emphasized that it is more than just sport, but rather a tool for dialogue between peoples.”
During the meeting, members discussed several topics on the agenda and took appropriate decisions regarding them.
On the other hand, members of the Board of Directors of the Olympic Refugee Foundation visited the residences of Palestinian refugees in the Al-Thumama area. They were accompanied on this visit by HE Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al-Misned, Minister of Social Development and Family.
Members of the Board of Directors of the Olympic Refugee Foundation also held meetings with several officials from various public sectors in Qatar with the aim of strengthening relations, as a meeting was held with Fahad Al-Sulaiti, CEO of the Education Above All Foundation, and Nasser Al-Khouri, Executive Director of the Generation Amazing Foundation. During the meetings, the efforts made by Qatar to promote social development through sports were reviewed.
It is worth noting that the International Olympic Committee launched the Olympic Refugee Foundation during its meeting held in Lima, Peru in 2017, where the Qatar Olympic Committee became a founding partner. The Foundation’s mission is to help displaced young men and women to belong through sports, and to shape their future for themselves.
