STATEMENT BY MR NOAH NEO, DELEGATE TO THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON AGENDA ITEM 11: ‘SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE: BUILDING A PEACEFUL AND BETTER WORLD THROUGH SPORT AND THE OLYMPIC IDEAL’, 1 DECEMBER 2022
1 December 2022
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Mr President,
1 Singapore thanks Monaco and Qatar for their work on the draft resolution, “Sport as an enabler of sustainable development”. We congratulate Qatar on its hosting of the FIFA World Cup, and wish all teams participating the very best of luck.
2 Sports facilitates the building of community and the coming together of nations. At the national level, sports helps to forge a deeper sense of national pride and identity, as we cheer on our national teams, celebrating their achievements and commiserating with them in their defeats.
3 Sports has the unique ability to bring people together and inspire us towards the pursuit of excellence. Sports also allows us to inculcate important values, those of sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork and respect.
4 These values, in turn, are essential building blocks towards unity and amicable, rules-based interactions between nations, which is what we strive for here at the United Nations.
5 Just as the ancient Olympians observed the Olympic truce, sports continue to bring us together in the present day, and allow nations to compete on the playing field instead of the battlefield.
6 Sports also contributes to individual and community welfare. For example, sports are integral to Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 4: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, as well as ensuring inclusive and quality education for all. The International Olympic Committee has stated that sports can contribute towards achieving 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It is no surprise then that sports have been recognised as an “important enabler” of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
7 Singapore is committed to supporting the Olympic Movement and to the advancement of sports as a means to promote peace and development.
8 2022 has been a busy year for Singapore athletes, who participated in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, and the 11th ASEAN Para Games in Solo, Indonesia.
9 In addition to these traditional sporting events, Singapore will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in June 2023, which will feature the best of virtual sports – both hybrid physical and simulated sports – broadening participation and introducing new ways to engage in sports.
10 Another important priority for Singapore is to expand the accessibility of sports, especially to athletes with disabilities. We recognise the potential of sports in empowering persons with disabilities and are committed to supporting the needs and aspirations of disabled athletes.
11 All upcoming, new and rejuvenated sport centres in Singapore are built in accordance with local building codes on accessibility. In addition, we are working to improve the accessibility of all public gyms for persons with disabilities by 2026.
12 The Singapore Government has established a Para Sport Academy to support athletes with disabilities. The Para Sport Academy will provide aspiring para-athletes a clear pathway from recreational participation to high performance sport. This is important because our para-athletes have achieved considerable success at the highest levels, including at the Paralympics, and are a source of inspiration and national pride.
13 But even as we promote competition at the highest levels, countries must also develop a broad sporting culture and ecosystem to encourage wider participation in sports and support the wider sporting community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sports activities had to be curtailed and the sporting community was badly affected. As we transition towards living with the virus, the Singapore Government launched a “Bring Sport Back” initiative, which has encouraged the return of sports activities by restarting mass participation events and providing grants to event organisers.
Mr President,
14 Support for the Olympic ideal is not only about support for sports but for the ideal that sports represents – a commitment to engage with other nations on the basis of fair play and mutual respect. Singapore will continue to uphold and promote these values as an active member of the international community.
15 I thank you.
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