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Hungarian Prime Minister, Gyulá Horn, today received IAAF President Dr Primo Nebiolo in Budapest. Nebiolo conferred upon Prime Minister Horn the IAAF "Golden Order of Merit", the International Federation’s highest award.
The ceremony was attended by Hungarian Foreign Minister, Láslo Kovacs, the Minister for Sport, István Harcsár, and other leading sporting and political personalities.
In his presentation speech, President Nebiolo recalled the efforts undertaken by the Hungarian government to promote sport and, especially, athletics which has a long-standing tradition in the country. Indeed, Hungary has produced some of the great champions in the history of athletics and has organised a number of major events.
Further recognition of this organisational ability is demonstrated by the choice of Budapest as host of the 5th IAAF Conference for the Eastern Countries, which starts tomorrow and will be attended by the representatives of 28 National Federations. The Conference, which will be chaired by Dr Nebiolo, will be opened by Hungary’s Minister for Sport, Dr István Harcsár.
The main subject of study during the Conference will be the development programmes for athletics in the Eastern European countries, of which 15 were formerly members of the Soviet Union. This special programme of aid was launched by the IAAF in 1992 and has been further strengthened by the creation of a Regional Development Centre in Moscow, which will operate in co-operation with the Russian State Academy for Physical Education. This important development was achieved as a result of lengthy negotiations during the recent Winter Olympics in Nagano, between IAAF President Primo Nebiolo and the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov.
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