Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, March 12, 2020: The Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Saken Mussaibekov, met with the regional representative of UNHCR for Central Asia, Ms. Yasuko Oda, in Nur-Sultan, capital of Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, March 11.
There are approximately 600 refugees living in Kazakhstan and most of them live in the biggest cities of the country – Almaty and Shymkent.
Mr. Mussaibekov expressed support to the refugees living in Kazakhstan and the commitment of Kazakhstan NOC to establish a strong partnership between the two organisations.
“As you know, the International Olympic Committee pays special attention to the issue of refugees and has been actively supporting refugees all over the world for several years,” said Mr. Mussaibekov.
“Notably, within the last five years, two Refugee Olympic Teams for the Rio 2016 and Tokyo2020 Olympic Games have been formed. In addition, the Olympic Refugee Foundation was established in 2015.
“For our part, NOC Kazakhstan would be pleased to join this movement in order to promote sport among refugees in Kazakhstan and to increase the public awareness of such an issue.”
The UNHCR representative thanked NOC Kazakhstan for the interest, as well as for their support and commitment.
“We hope that, under the leadership of the NOC Kazakhstan President, we will establish strong and long-term cooperation in increasing public attention to this issue and development of sports among the refugees,” Ms. Oda said.
The Secretary General also noted that Ms. Oda and the NOC Kazakhstan President, Mr. Timur Kulibayev, who is also a Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia, already have common ground as the representatives for Central Asia.
“We believe that our cooperation will certainly have a great impact on the situation in our region,” claimed the Secretary General.
Both parties agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding as an important component of joint efforts in promoting sport among refugees and drawing public attention to the issue of refugees in Kazakhstan and Central Asia as a whole.
