Prime Minister Edi Rama today attended a meeting of the members of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (ICMG) who came together in the first ICMG Executive Committee meeting in Tirana, Albania.
In his remarks at the event, the government head hailed the presence of the ICMG Executive Committee members as a milestone event for the Albanian sport that is now receiving the deserved support and attention from the government.
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I’m sure you hold meetings all the time and today’s gathering is just a regular event for you all, yet for us it’s not simply just another ICMG Executive Committee meeting, but it’s a milestone event and that’s why I’d like to thank all of you for taking your flights to our country. It is the first time we have the honor to welcome and host highly esteemed friends and senior representatives from the world of sport and we do not take it so easy.
You come from three continents and Tirana is the European capital of sports for 2023 and the timing couldn’t be better for us to also celebrate your presence here in Albania before the year-end.
Thank you very much for this!
I would like to make sure that you are all extended warm welcome and reception and our friend Mr. Fidel Ylli is our guarantee for this, in his capacity as the visionary President of the National Olympic Committee of Albania and thanks to him, the Committee is now experiencing a fresh moment of development and a very good job is really being done to support important sport initiatives, but first and foremost for our new generations, for our children, who already participate in the Olympic games and events.
More than 10,000 young boys and girls are currently involved in such school networks of basketball and volleyball disciplines and the number of sport disciplines in schools will increase next year to gradually make sure that every pupil and secondary education students are provided the opportunity to engage in sport activities, regardless of the fact whether they engage in various sport disciplines individually or in teams, because professional sport is one thing, but sport for everyone is something else and sport for everyone needs more support, especially at this time of human history, when our kids face a range of various dangers and serious risks, like the dangers of the internet and the new technology that has become part of our life and what we can do to make sure that children and young people spend increasingly less time using smart phones, computers, iPad and all of these agents, because this would be to the benefit of the society and the human civilization.
Sport is what can really save us and can save our children.
It is of course a different level of education, but I am really grateful to the Albanian Olympic Committee, I am grateful to all of you and the movements that have come together within such organizations and sport bodies that revive hope, provide experience and their assistance and provide space for the sportsmen and sport officials to exchange, share and learn from one another how to improve their local sport movements.
Having said that, I would also like to thank you for another very important issue your President mentioned earlier. We are committed to supporting Kosovo, its candidacy for the 2023 Mediterranean Games and, as I was informed by the President of this organization in the first Olympic Games due to be held in places like Pristina and Durrës, we will all be proud of the decision that was made and I know that this decision was not a very easy one for you, but you make decisions in your capacity as people of sports, because it would not be so easy to make such a decision if you were politicians.
In conclusion, I would like to extend an appeal, a very serious one; please enjoy your stay here in Tirana, have a good time here in Tirana, have this meeting but do not prolong it and go out instead.
Everything has been arranged in advance to welcome you, as well as in your personal capacity to see and witness the incredible, tremendous changes to tourism. The number of foreign arrivals to Albania is reaching around 10 million this year, three times as many as people living in this country currently.
The number of foreign visitors to Albania will definitely grow next year and in the next two years.
Mr. President, thank you once again!
You are truly a courageous Italian. Italy is our second homeland; it is our second home and has always been good to us.
It is a privilege to have your support as well and to have your support in the championship.
Thank you very much! <b>Thank you so much and God bless you all!
Happy New Year for your families and your loved ones, and may 2024 be the most successful year in your sport movements and for this outstanding Committee.
