QMMF president and FIA Vice-President, Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah.
By Our Correspondent/Kuwait
The FIA Sport Regional Congress – Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will start today morning in Kuwait at 7h00 GMT. This Congress is organised by the Kuwait International Automobile Club (KT) under the umbrella of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), with the participation and under the sponsorship of the minister of Information and State Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Salman al-Hmoud; the Chairman of the Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS), Sheikh Ahmad Al-Mansour; the FIA President Jean Todt, who will be on his second visit to Kuwait; and the FIA Vice-President, Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah.
The Congress is held for the first time in Kuwait. It will stretch over three days, starting at 9h00 and ending at 17h00 (Kuwait time). Eighteen countries will be represented, with the justified absence of the State of Palestine.
On this occasion, the FIA Vice-President Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah expressed his pleasure to hold the 2015FIA Sport Congress of the Middle East and North Africa Region in Kuwait for the first time. He thanked the State of Kuwait, represented by the ministry of Information and State ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Kuwait International Automobile Club (KT), for hosting the Congress.
He added: “We are glad to hold brainstorming sessions to discuss the agenda in order to identify the best ways to develop motor sport in the future. We are very happy and we hope that everybody will benefit from the meetings and workshops. On behalf of Jean Todt, I would like to say that we are glad to inaugurate the Congress tomorrow and we hope that everything will go as expected”.
DEVELOPING MOTORSPORT IN THE GULF REGION
Al-Attiyah also stated: “The Congress has a very strong agenda aiming at developing motor sport in the region in a convenient way, especially with regards to safety/ roads and improving the skills of the officials and volunteers behind the events. We need to consider as well holding more activities in different disciplines, such as rallies, hill climb racing, karting and cross-country rallies, in addition to Baja championships to be considered for North Africa to establish a balance in the region”.
“I have very active members attending in Kuwait. The countries have a bigger motivation to increase their activities. We have, of course, very important terrains which are ready to host events in different motor sport disciplines. As you know we have two Formula 1 races, the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Morocco, the Middle East Rally Championship and the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain, in addition to karting races”, indicated the FIA Vice-President.
He concluded by saying: “Our region is the first in the world to organise a drifting championship and drag races. We are very active and I am sure that our area will play a major role in developing and promoting motor sport, together with the FIA”.
On the other hand, the President and CEO of the Kuwait International Automobile Club, Essa Hamzah Alfailakawi, pointed out thatthe meeting gathered motor sport senior officials from around the world, with the participation of the FIA President Jean Todt, and the FIA Vice-President and MENA President Nasser al-Attiyah. He added that Kuwait had the honour to hold this Congress and that it has proven its ability to organize such an event encompassing 75 participants from 18 countries, in addition to senior FIA officials.
According to Hamzah, the Congress enjoys the full support of the State of Kuwait and constitutes the first step towards developing motor sport in the MENA region.
He indicated that the Congress would discuss the future of motor sport in workshops to be held by the FIA and attended by the representatives of participating countries.
The workshops are aimed at examining the issues and problems of motor sport in the world and finding solutions to develop this sport, with a particular attention to organisation and safety issues, especially with the latest developments in the region.
Moreover, the President of the Algerian Federation of Motor Sport, Chihab Baloul, indicated that Algeria was a pioneering country in the field of motor sport since 1963, adding that its participation to Kuwait’s Congress was aimed at coordinating with member states on the initiative launched by the FIA Vice-President, Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah. The goal of the said initiative is to support motor sport by organizing an international open championship in the region of North Africa, a championship to be hosted by Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania.
Baloul underscored the fact that the said championship would be the first championship to be hosted by North African countries under the umbrella of the FIA, while pointing to the need of the Arab countries for such youth activities that contribute to the development of motor sport in the Middle East.
Furthermore, the President of the Tunisia National Automobile Club and the Maghreb Automobile Federation, Chadly Zouiten, said that this was the first expanded meeting aiming at supporting motor sport in the region. He hoped that the Congress would come up with a series of outcomes that would lead to the development of this popular sport that is cherished by youth, especially with the intensive efforts that are deployed by the FIA, represented by Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah. According to Zouiten, all this confirms that the future of motor sport is secure.
