According to Imna news agency, Mohammad Ali Eskandari, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Uzbekistan, discussed ways to develop sports cooperation between the two countries in a webinar meeting with Ahmad Dunyamali, the Minister of Sports and Youth, on Tuesday, August 6.
At the beginning of this meeting, the Minister of Sports and Youth, referring to Uzbekistan's sports capacities, considered this country as one of the growing powers of Asian sports and pointed to its significant successes in the Olympic and Asian Games.
Mentioning rowing, boxing and wrestling as the most important medal-winning disciplines of Uzbekistan, Dunyamali said: Conditions must be provided for Iranian athletes and coaches to benefit from Uzbekistan's sports capabilities.
He, who has a history of two decades of activity in the Iranian Rowing Federation and a member of the board of the World and Asian Federations of this field, said: Uzbek rowing coaches worked in the Iranian national teams in the past years and left a successful performance. In addition to having capable coaches, Uzbekistan has one of the most standard rowing tracks in the world and has hosted world and Asian competitions many times. We are interested in resuming past cooperation in this field to help the development of Iranian sailing.
Referring to Uzbekistan's privileged position in boxing, the Minister of Sports and Youth added: winning five gold medals at the Paris Olympics and three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics shows that the progress of this country in boxing has been completely targeted and upward. For this reason, we should use every opportunity to exchange technical knowledge, hold joint camps and expand bilateral cooperation.
In the continuation of this meeting, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Uzbekistan emphasized the readiness of the embassy to facilitate sports cooperation between the two countries and said: Uzbekistan has significant capacities in individual disciplines such as boxing, judo, taekwondo and weightlifting, and on the other hand, Iran has a privileged position in many team and group disciplines. These complementary capacities can be the basis for wider cooperation between the two countries.
Eskandari considered the development of economic cooperation as one of the prerequisites for strengthening sports relations between Iran and Uzbekistan and stated: sports tourism, export of sports equipment, provision of medical and sports services, as well as mutual support in international forums, are among the axes that can help deepen the relations between the two countries.
The Minister of Sports and Youth, while welcoming this proposal, announced that he will pursue the development of economic cooperation related to sports in order to provide the basis for the expansion of interactions between the two countries.
At the end, Dunyamali pointed to the holding of the world nomadic sports competitions in Kyrgyzstan and the presence of the presidents of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the sidelines of this event, and considered this opportunity to consult and strengthen bilateral cooperation.
At the end of the meeting, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Uzbekistan announced the preparation of a draft memorandum of understanding on sports cooperation between the two countries and expressed hope that with the finalization of this document, the preparations for the visit of the Minister of Sports and Youth of Iran to Uzbekistan and the trip of the Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan to Tehran will be made in the near future.
