The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has partnered with the Government of Guyana through the Department of Tourism and the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), to stage the FIFA Development Conference here.
The forum, which will run from May 14th-15th, will be the first ever staged on local shores. This was revealed at a press conference yesterday at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston.
President of the GFF Wayne Forde disclosed that all 25 member associations of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), as well as the six non-member states and several African nations, are expected to participate in the event, which will feature the entire FIFA Development Committee.
According to Forde, the event is of significant importance as one of the key areas of discussion will be on the implementation of a comprehensive regional school football programme.
Meanwhile, President of THAG Mitra Ramkumar said, “Football is a unifier and it has a huge following, if not the most following in terms of fans; you actually get tremendous amount of coverage. Sports tourism in Guyana can really take off and we’re happy to partner with the GFF. It can really boost our tourism product with this conference and we’re happy to be on board.”
Department of Tourism Director General Donald Sinclair added, “this is a sign that finally, sports and tourism are coming together; in fact there’s a strong connection between sports and tourism because of the substance of the conference and the theme of the conference. (It) is very important, not just from a sports standpoint, but also bringing officials, players, spectators and media to Guyana.”
According to FIFA, the Development Committee is assigned to develop programmes for the respective federations. They are also mandated to analyse the strategies devised for the respective member associations and confederations.
The FIFA Forward Programme is one of the many initiatives of the Development Committee. It was adopted on May 9th, 2016, at the FIFA Congress and has become the global development programme especially for emerging nations.
FIFA Forward is built to provide an encompassing tailor-made support for the sport’s development in the respective member associations and confederations. It is based on three simple principles; more investment, more impact, and more oversight.
