Kuwait City, Kuwait, December 23, 2021: The Olympic Council of Asia has announced that the organising committees of the next two Asian Games in China and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday, December 23, 2021.
The OCA believes this partnership between Hangzhou 2022 and Aichi-Nagoya 2026 highlights the unity and solidarity within the Olympic Movement in Asia and also the determination of the two host cities and countries to stage an Asian Games that will impress the world.
Both parties issued a press release on Thursday to celebrate the signing of the MOU between the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC) and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee (AINAGOC).
The MOU was signed by Chen Weiqiang, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou and Deputy Secretary General of HAGOC, and by Naruse Kazuhiro, Director General of AINAGOC.
HAGOC, which will stage the OCA’s 19th Asian Games from September 10-25, 2022, said the MOU focused on “working together to build momentum for both Games”.
The HAGOC statement added: “With support and guidance from the Olympic Council of Asia, both HAGOC and AINAGOC will, under this agreement, encourage greater sharing of information and staff as needed to successfully stage both Games and, in tandem, distribute information regarding the events.
“Through these efforts to promote the Games, the agreement will also help further the Olympic Movement in Asia and encourage closer ties between the two countries.”
AINAGOC, which will stage the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya and Aichi prefecture from September 19- October 4, 2026, said: “AINAGOC has been in collaboration with HAGOC on knowledge-sharing regarding the management of the Games and together produced a joint PR video with the aim of the success of both Games.
“The two organising committees have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to further promote the mutual cooperation in the run-up to 2022, the year of the 19th Games in Hangzhou. Under the support and guidance from the Olympic Council of Asia, we look forward to working even closer for both of our Games together.”
AINAGOC highlighted three key areas of cooperation:
*Effective Preparation and Success of the 19th and the 20th Asian Games
*Enlivening the 19th and 20th Asian Games
*Promotion of the Olympic Movement in Asia
Both HAGOC and AINAGOC stated that the two organising committees had already been working together on a number of initiatives and projects before signing the official MOU.
These included a visit by Hideaki Omura, Governor of Aichi Prefecture, to Hangzhou in May 2019 to meet leaders of the Zhejiang provincial and Hangzhou municipal governments; regular online meetings between HAGOC and AINAGOC since June 2019; a visit by Chen Weiqiang and a delegation from Hangzhou to Aichi-Nagoya in 2019; the release of a joint promotional video in July 2020; and a video message of congratulations and best wishes from AINAGOC to Hangzhou 2022 for a successful Asian Games during the one-year countdown celebrations in September 2021.
