Top ministers confirmed for Peace and Sport

Dubai: The final day of the Peace and Sport Forum Dubai 2013 will bring together top-level ministers and decision-makers from the Middle East region, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and the UAE.

Humaid Mohammad Al Qutami, UAE Minister of Education, will deliver the keynote address on the second day of the Peace and Sport Forum Dubai 2013 to be held at the JM Marquis Hotel on April 23 and 24.

Al Qutami will later be joined by Algerian Minister of Youth and Sports Mohammad Tahmi, Paul Hansen the Head of Office of the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) and former Moroccan Minister for Sports, IOC Vice-President and Olympic gold medallist Nawal Al Mutawakel, during a discussion on “Leading the way: The importance of the leaders’ vision”.

In the second session of the day Mohammad Ouzzine, Morocco’s Minister of Youth and Sport, will deliver his thoughts on societal involvement in the development of youth within the region.

He will later be joined by Reem Asaad, a women’s rights activist and economics expert from Saudi Arabia, Dr Hamad Shaikh Ahmad Al Shaibani, President of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Award for International Peace and Morocco’s Olympic champion Hesham Al Guerrouj, who is also one of the Peace and Sport ambassadors for the region.

The third and final session of the day will see Tariq Diab, Tunisia’s Minister of Sport, deliver the address in “Understanding the Challenges: Sustainable Peace”.

The minister will be joined in a panel discussion by Dahi Khalfan Al Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, Nina Toroi of IWG Women and Sport and Phil Sherwood, who led the volunteer programme at the 2012 London Olympics.

The day and forum will conclude with a concluding speech from Joel Bouzou, Peace and Sport Chairman and Founding President.

The opening day of the forum will see an array of speakers from the political and sporting worlds coming together to draw up proposals for making peace a reality in the region and the world at large.

Top tennis players Novak Djokovic, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna and athletics champions Sergey Bubka, Wilson Kipketer, Yelena Isinbayeva, Tegla Loroupe, Frankie Fredericks and Dick Fosbury are some of the big names who have been named “Champions of Peace” over the years by the Peace and Sport Forum.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of DSC, will formally open the event at 6.30pm on April 23. Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development and Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal Al Saud, President of Arab Olympic Committee, will be present.