HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali stressed yesterday that Doha’s hosting of the Sports Integrity Summit is a continuation of Qatar’s active role in promoting the noble values of sport in societies. 
The two-day summit begins tomorrow. 
The Minister of Culture and Sports welcomed the guests from all over the world and expressed his happiness to sponsor the summit being organised by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and Qatar Airways in co-operation with the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA). 
He expressed hope that the summit will achieve its goals, and become a milestone and culminate in international efforts to rid global sports of corruption and fraud and transcend all societies.
The minister stressed the importance of teamwork in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. He added that hosting the summit was to complement the role of Qatar in promoting the noble values of sports in societies. 
He also drew attention to the efforts made by the Ministry of Culture and Sports in co-operating with the international community and its various organisations in order to fight corruption and to promote the principles of transparency and integrity in all sports domains locally, regionally and globally. 
For his part, Qatar Airways Group chief executive HE Akbar al-Baker said Qatar Airways is proud to be a partner of the event, given that it is a major sponsor of many sports clubs and events around the world. He expressed his belief that good governance and integrity in sport at the highest levels are necessary to enable sport in the region and the world to achieve one of its goals as a platform to bring the people of the world together.
Meanwhile, SIGA vice chairman Mohamed bin Hanzab highlighted the importance of the summit, given it is the first of its kind in the region, which not only sheds light on the dangers of corruption in sports in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, but also develops professional solutions that suit the fight against sports corruption in each country in the region through a set of legislation that ensure the application of best governance rules.
He expressed his thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Sports for taking the initiative in all sports issues that are important to the world, expressing his thanks to the minister for supporting the summit held for the first time in the region. 
The SIGA vice chairman emphasised the importance of co-operation between countries to combat organised and intercontinental crimes related to sports corruption. He expressed pride in this regard that the ICSS is a founding member of SIGA, which is leading the international efforts to promote aspects of integrity and fighting corruption in sport. 
The agenda of the summit, which will be attended by HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali will include a number of important topics in the presence of experts and specialists in sport integrity from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. A total of 60 experts from around the world will attend. 
The summit also aims to highlight the seriousness of corruption in sport in the region, and to develop solutions by encouraging countries to adopt SIGA’s international standard legislation. Another topic discussed will be the importance of collective action among the region’s countries to enact legislation on integrity and to combat corruption in sport, as its crimes have now become transcontinental in nature.
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