Cooperation between Serbia, UAE in area of youth and sports

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic and Secretary General of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE)General Authority of Youth and Sports Ibrahim Abdul Malik Mohammed signed an agreement on youth and sports cooperation on Wednesday.

The agreement will improve the two countries' cooperation in the sphere of youth and sports, focusing in particular on the exchange of experience in the fields of recreational sports and sports for persons with disabilities, anti-doping and sports medicine, as well as on encouraging youth volunteerism.

The signing of the agreement at the Serbian government in Belgrade was attended by the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Belgrade, Juma Rashid Saif Zayed Al Dhaheri.

"We share a desire to spread the culture of sports in our communities so sports could become a way of life. We share a commitment to providing young people in Serbia and the Emirates with positive and attractive environment to help them develop their physical and mental abilities, use their leisure time effectively, improve their creative abilities, and learn about the importance of volunteer work," said Udovicic.

He stressed that the Emirates had expressed great interest in using Serbia's experience in the development of sports for persons with disabilities.

"This, I can freely say, is an area where Serbia is a leader in Europe, as can be seen from the number of medals won by our Paralympic athletes," Udovicic said.

The UAE are very interested in sharing knowledge concerning setting up sports institutions, and they are also interested in cooperation in the sports medicine and anti-doping areas, where Serbia is also doing a very good job, said the Serbian sports minister.