Planned blueprint for regional co-operation in sport

2/5/93

Sport is set to become a major catalyst for Western Australia's open acceptance as part of the Asian region.

Sport and Recreation Minister Doug Shave said a recent meeting between Premier Richard Court, himself and Sports Ministers and key officials from six South-East Asian nations had agreed that WA would provide a secretariat to develop a blueprint for regional co-operation in sport.

"Australia's prized reputation in sporting achievement, facilities and methods, is of a standard which the Asians want to reach in a broad range of sports," Mr Shave said.

"This can be achieved through the interchange of sporting resources among all the ASEAN countries and WA.

"The countries represented are developing at a rapid rate and wish to invest money into more sophisticated sports facilities.

"Western Australians have the practical expertise in terms of architecture, planning, building and other associated industries to assist them during this growth period.

"WA will also benefit through the availability of their expertise and with the increased number of sporting groups expected to visit here.

"Another indirect spin-off is that it will create other opportunities in areas such as tourism and trade between WA and Asia as many top business and government people are also heavily involved in sport in their countries."

Mr Shave said the project would use sport and recreation staff in Perth to create a data base of sporting expertise such as training, facilities, education and science, along with a calendar of events in each country.

These would include the countries represented at the weekend meeting - from Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

A message of support for initiatives originating from the meeting was received from Singapore.

The information on the new data base would be available to all those involved and they would be encouraged to use each other's facilities.

"The aim is for the various countries to maximise the use of sporting facilities within the ASEAN region, including WA," Mr Shave said.

"The program could include joint training, coaching clinics, seminars and sport management plans."

The Minister said WA would continue to pursue a goal of holding a sports festival involving South-East Asia nations engaged with the SEA Games.

"Although no decisions have been taken to date regarding the festival, the meeting decided to focus initially on the youth and education aspects of such an event," he said.

The Asian Sports Ministers would meet again in Singapore in June, 1993.

Mr Shave said the visiting ministers were impressed with the scale and professionalism with which the Masters Games were held.

During their visit, the ministers toured Perth sporting facilities and attended a number of Masters Games events including the opening ceremony on Saturday.

"The comments we received during their visit reinforces the Perth tradition of holding high class events of this nature," Mr Shave said.

"The location of the secretariat here in Perth means that sport will provide the basis for forging even closer ties with our Asian neighbours, give valuable spin-off to all countries in the form of improved sporting performance and open up prospects in other areas such as tourism and trade."

Media contact: Brian Coulter 325 4133 : 222 9595