Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with IAAF President Lamine Diack in Moscow (© c)
IAAF President Lamine Diack attended the 10th IAAF Conference for Eastern European countries in Moscow this weekend and agreed to continue supporting this vital development project.
Delegates from 29 countries participated in the Conference, which was originally set up in 1992 to support athletics in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The project provided crucial financial support which helped athletics federations to survive the very difficult economic situation of the immediate post-Soviet era and helped the renaissance of athletics in this region.
At the end of the Moscow conference, the participants unanimously announced their full support of the current IAAF leadership and declared that they would support IAAF President Lamine Diack for another term as head of the IAAF, for the period 2007-2011.
Delegates also proposed to continue the Eastern European countries project for the next 4-year period, and asked the IAAF to organize such conferences annually.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Lamine Diack said: “I fully support the idea to continue the eastern European countries project which has proved to be an important tool for the development of the world athletics.”
President Diack also stressed the great role played by the IAAF Regional Development Centre in Moscow in aiding the development of athletics in the region. The main role of the IAAF RDCs is to function as a "branch office" of the IAAF supporting the work of the Member Federations and providing a focal point for the programme of development actions in the areas they serve.
The Moscow RDC is extremely active, organising seminars, workshops and the translation and distribution of IAAF publications in Russian.
“World athletics is successfully tackling all the challenges facing our sport today, and we can all look to the future with great optimism. If you consider that an unprecedented number of 8 candidates, including Russia, are competing for the right to stage the IAAF World Championships in 2011 and 2013, athletics is becoming more popular and attractive around the world.
“The IAAF will continue to monitor the situation of athletics in Eastern European countries and do all we can to help improve and modernize the system of competitions in this region,” said Diack.
IAAF President will be meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin later today to talk about the huge role Russia has to play in world athletics and the Olympic movement.
Nikolay Ivanov for the IAAF