Brussels, 27/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The 16th informal meeting of European Sports Ministers of 44 Council of Europe member states will be held on 12 and 13 September in Warsaw (Poland) and will treat the theme of "physical education and sport: a new political and institutional approach". The aim of the meeting is to underline the benefit to be gained from sport and physical education, not only in but also outside school, and to see how to make the most of the economic, social and political advantages that sport brings to European society as a whole.
Work will be opened by Maud De Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, followed by the President of the Republic of Poland, Alexander Kwasniewski, and the Polish Minister for National Education and Sport, Krystyna Lybacka. During this event, the additional Protocol to the Convention against doping, on mutual recognition of anti-doping controls and the strengthening of the anti-doping Convention, will be opened for signature.
The subject of the meeting is very topical, mainly because of the sedentary lifestyle of young people today (who remain glued to their computers or television, no longer walk to school, and live on a diet of fast food), which is the cause of the high rate of obesity among young people in Western Europe and financial problems in Eastern Europe. Poland's Deputy Minister of National Education and Sport Adam Gierz will present the general theme of the meeting. Other ministerial participants will speak on safeguarding the ideals of sport and of the responsibility of the Council of Europe, of national governments and of sports organisations. They will give an account of the results of surveys carried out by the committee for the development of sport (CDDS). Finally, participants will designate a European representative to the steering committee of the WAA (World Anti-Doping Agency).