http://maigoc2007.sports.sina.com.cn 2007-04-25 MAIGOC
The possibility of South Africa becoming an associated member of ACOLOP was explored during the visit of Manuel Silvério to Johannesburg. In South Africa, Manuel Silvério met representatives of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), amongst them Executive Committee member Dave Van Der Merwe and Financial Director Vinesh Maharaj. “South Africa has a strong Portuguese-speaking community, and ACOLOP defines itself as an open association,” Manuel Silvério remarked “and one of our targets is to eventually unite Lusofonia communities around the world.”
Dave Van Der Merwe expressed great pleasure in receiving Macao athletes in their training camps at the SASCOC dinner reception for the delegation, “South Africa welcomes your athletes to use our infrastructure for training.”
Manuel Silvério, also 1st Vice-President of the Macau Olympic Committee, invited a team of SASCOC to visit the venues in Macao, after the Beijing 2008 Olympics Chef-the-Mission meeting this coming August. As Macao will host the 2nd Asian Indoor Games, Manuel Silvério, as the Chairman of MAIGOC, also addressed an invitation to the president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee to participate in the event. He also wishes the South-African sports delegation success at the All African Games, to be held in Argel between 11 and 23 of July.
“South Africa is going through an amazing development in Sport. Being an association that is established three years, it is without any doubt that our contact is beneficial to all; on one hand, ACOLOP can better understand the work carried out in South Africa. On the other hand too, we can provide in-depths to South Africa on the objectives of ACOLOP, and on the projects that we are developing,” Manuel Silvério added.
Considering that a relevant number of ACOLOP members belong to the African Continent, the days spent in Johannesburg allowed a deeper understanding of the works that are being done in the African Sports field. SASCOC is developing projects in different areas, such as the Olympic Solidarity Movement or the High Performance Programs. Earlier, Silvério visited a high performance athletes training camp in the University of Pretoria. The mega campus is the training ground used by sports delegations from all around the world and is the place where a lot of the best African athletes were educated.
Besides the meeting with the SASCOC representatives, Manuel Silvério was received by the Minister Councillor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa, Zhou Yuxiao. During their meeting, the role of Macao as a platform between China and the Lusofonia countries was amongst the subjects discussed. “The Central Government and the MSAR Government have, through various aspects, endorsed Macao with the task to bridge communications,” said the President of ACOLOP. “The Lusofonia Games held in Macao last year, had the full support of the authorities and contributed to this diversification of the relationship between China and the Lusofonia world,” he said.
