The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) General Assembly and Conference was officiated by the United Arab Emirates Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, at the Yas Viceroy Hotel Abu Dhabi today before the commencement of the conference programme.
The first presentation by Xavier Gonzalez, CEO of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), titled The Global Paralympic Movement: “The Effect, Impact & Expectation on IPC Regions” addressed the positive global growth of the Paralympic movement, including membership, NPC and athlete participation, TV audience as well as ticket sales.
This was followed by the keynote address by APC President Dato Zainal Abu Zarin titled “The Next 5 Years: The Power of Para Games of Asia” which focused on the journey of APC from 2002 to the present, and plans for the future.
Highlighting the setting up of the APC Academy Programme for sourcing and management of human resource, as well as the organising of APC Regional Para Games, Dato’ Zainal said, “We’ve made rapid progress over the last eight years and for the next five years we will look at further strengthening our Para Games, empowering the regions, and enhancing APC’s Regional Human Resource Development and Specialist Programme, as these are key areas which require special attention in our journey.”
The conference continued with the Sports Forum following the theme The Next 5 Years: Fulfilling the APM2020 Vision. Topics covered the successes and issues related to sports and athletes, classification and doping-control, APC sports forums held during the Incheon 2014 Para Games and the viability of the HRD Specialist Programme.
The APC General Assembly and Conference continues on 2 December with presentations by several sub-regions who will be organising Para-sport competitions in the year 2015. Also on the agenda is the signing of the APC Abu Dhabi Accord between APC and each sub-regional committee.