Barbadian sports adminstrators and sports people stand to benefit from closer ties with the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) following a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.
On Wednesday morning, JOC?vice-president Masato Mizuno met with president of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), Steve Stoute, and Austin Sealy, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member in Barbados, at the Olympic Centre, Wildey.
Mizuno and Stoute signed a partnership agreement outlining the desire to fortify relationships between sportsmen and sportswomen of both countries.
Under the agreement, both parties agreed to:
• share international information on the Olympic movement and support and cooperate with each other;
• share full communication and cooperation in the consistent application of fair play principles at all levels of sport activities;
• encourage development of athlete and coach exchanges between the national sports federations of both countries for participation in bilateral competitions and training, as well as the exchange of officials, staff, trainers, judges, experts and scientists;
• pledge to individually and cooperatively work against doping abuse, nationally and internationally;
On signing the document, Stoute thanked Mizuno for visiting Barbados and the Olympic Centre and said he was looking forward to both parties benefiting from the MOU.
Mizuno expressed his regret at the passing of David Thompson, former Prime Minister of Barbados, and offered his condolences to the Government and people of Barbados. He thanked the BOA for welcoming him during this period of mourning.
He said that with the completion of the National Training Centre in Japan, he was hoping that the BOA would avail itself of the services up to 2016 when the agreement expired.
He added that he hoped the accord would then be renewed.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Sealy and BOA general manager Glyne Clarke. (PR/SAT)
