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Iraqi Kurdistan Sport and youth minister
discusses devolved sports model on UK visit 12.11.2007
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November
12, 2007
LONDON, -- Mr Taha Barwary, the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) Minister for Sport and
Youth, last week visited London, Cardiff and
Edinburgh where he met members of parliament,
sports-related and volunteering organisations and
government officials including the UK’s sports
minister and Scotland's Europe, external affairs and
culture minister.
Barwary, accompanied by Ms Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman,
the KRG High Representative to the UK, met Mr Gerry
Sutcliffe, the UK Sports Minister, and several MPs
at a dinner hosted in his honour in the UK House of
Commons.
In Edinburgh he met Ms Linda Fabiani, the Scottish
Government’s Minister for Europe, External Affairs
and Culture, and a cross-party group of MSPs. In
Wales he met Mr Huw Jones, Chief Executive, and Mr
Phil Carling, Chairman of the Sports Council for
Wales.
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Taha Barwary, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
Minister for Sport and Youth |
Barwary said, “It has
been a very productive and enlightening visit. I
received a warm welcome and great interest in the
Kurdistan Region from everyone I met. We can learn a
lot from the concept and practicalities of UK
devolution as this is similar to our federal system
in Iraq. The major result of this visit is that I
have decided to organise in 2008 a sports seminar
involving experts and different stakeholders.”
The minister added, “I also thanked our friends in
Westminster and the Scottish Parliament for the
recent visit to the Kurdistan Region of Mr Des
Browne, Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary
of State for Scotland.”
Barwary met the Sports Council for Wales and Sport
Scotland, the national agencies for sport, to
discuss how they fund and organise sport for
everyone, at the school, community and high
performance levels. Mr Alan Bell, International
Development Coordinator at the Youth Sport Trust,
briefed the minister on its work with schools, the
UK government and volunteers to increase
participation in sport. Barwary also met Mr Les
Howie, the National Development Manager of the
world-famous English Football Association, to
explore coach-the-coaches possibilities.
Barwary outlined his sport and youth policy to Ms
Karen Giblin, the British Council’s Iraq Director,
and Mr Andy Hansen, the British Council’s Senior
Advisor on Sport in Education. He asked them to
reach out to Kurdistan’ volunteer youth centres and
to use sport to promote cross-cultural
understanding.
Another purpose of the minister’s visit was to reach
out and invite British people to do fulfilling and
sustainable voluntary work for short periods in the
Kurdistan Region. Barwary discussed this with three
volunteering organisations. He also met young
Kurdish students living in the UK to brief them on
the prospects and challenges for young people in the
Kurdistan Region.
In the UK House of Commons the KRG Sport and Youth
Minister was welcomed by Mr Mike Gapes (Labour) who
is Chairman of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs
Select Committee, Ms Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP (Labour),
Mr Dave Anderson MP (Labour), Mr Gary Kent of Labour
Friends of Iraq, and Mr Ian Paterson of the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office Iraq Policy Unit. In
Scotland he briefed Members of the Scottish
Parliament Mr Murdo Fraser (Scottish Conservative,
Mr Bill Wilson (Scottish Nationalists), Mr Frank
McAveety (Scottish Labour), and Mr Joe Fitzpatrick
(Scottish Nationalists).
krg org
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