The Executive Board of the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) met in Manama, Bahrain and principally approved its new Strategic Plan which will take the organisation through to 2023.
This was the second meeting of the newly-appointed Executive Board which also heard updates on various aspects including audited financial reports, upcoming Games, updates from Standing Committee and APC Headquarters.
Welcoming APC and its Board, Bahrain National Paralympic Committee President His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Duaij Al Khalifa said: “We are very honoured to host the 23rd APC Executive Board meeting here in Bahrain. I also congratulate Dubai, which is also the headquarters of APC for the successful hosting of the World Para Athletics Championships recently. This meeting is an important event for us in terms of building relationship with APC which is under a strong leadership of Mr. Majid Rashed. We hope to work closely with the APC in the coming time.”
APC President Majid Rashed thanked Bahrain NPC and especially HRH Sheikh Mohammed for extending a warm welcome and being a great host.
“On behalf of APC, I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to Bahrain Paralympic Committee for being a great host to APC meeting and Board members. The initiatives and programmes that Bahrain NPC have started to do recently reflects their Strategic Plan for future which is also related to cooperation and work of APC strategic plans and goals. In West Asia area, Bahrain started to lead the movement in Gulf countries 40 years ago back. Bahrain was also in Paralympic Games podium in 100m T54 in 1988. Bahrain has a rich history in Paralympic sport.”
“We are very happy to work closely with Bahrain NPC,” said Rashed who also honoured Bahrain NPC President HRH Sheikh Mohammed with the APC Golden Pin and Trophy.
EB happy with new draft of Strategic Plan
On the first day of the meeting, the final draft of the APC Strategic Plan was presented to the Board which discussed it at length and principally approved it.
The new Strategic Plan will be officially rolled out during the ASEAN Para Games in Philippines, that is scheduled for January 18-25, 2020.
The Board members were happy about the discussion on the new draft of the Strategic Plan and assured to circulate it to all the NPCs in the region.
Praising the new Plan, South East Asia representative and Philippine Paralympic Committee President Michael Barredo said: “We have principally agreed to all the aspect of the Strategic Plan; its Mission, Vision and Action Plan. It is very much aligned with IPC, which I believe it should be as we are under one umbrella. But as we come from different region, our Mission can be a bit different to be able to cover the diversities. We also did some addition to the core values of the IPC which is important to our region. We are working towards a more cohesive and unified and by doing so, it will make us stronger, more dynamic and inclusive Asia.”
Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games
The second day of the meeting included updates from upcoming Games organising committees including Hangzhou 2022, whose sport programme was announced by APC recently. The Hangzhou 2022 organisers are currently strengthening their organisation and preparing the Budget Plan.
They are also working on the first draft of the Master Plan for the Games and will await the approval of the government and APC.
The 2021 APC Conference and General Assembly and 2021 Asian Youth Para Games were also important part of the discussion. The board also heard updates on Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games.
Reports from the APC Standing Committees and from the five sub-regions were presented to the board on the day.
