Nearly 50 heads of state and government are expected at the Louvre in Paris this Thursday. Before a dinner, a prelude to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26, these leaders will participate in the first international summit “sport for sustainable development”, organized by the Élysée and the IOC (International Olympic Committee). Objective: to show that investments in sport can also be vectors of economic development or even of reducing inequalities.
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Around fifty heads of state and government are expected at the Louvre for a “Sport and Sustainable Development” summit. The objective? Make concrete commitments in the fields of education, health, equality and inclusion by placing sport and its benefits at the heart of our societies and our public policies ” said Emmanuel Macron, co-organizer of the event with IOC President Thomas Bach.
” There will be concrete financial commitments to combine sport and development “, promised the Élysée on the eve of this summit presented as unprecedented before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26. The French presidency and the IOC are taking advantage of a dinner of heads of state at the Louvre this evening to bring together a few hours earlier dozens of heads of state and government around this subject. We will find Gustavo Petro, the Colombian president, or even Bassirou Diomaye Fayethe Senegalese president. The Senegal will be the first African country to organize an Olympic event, hosting the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 in Dakar.
THE Olympic Games do not always have the expected economic benefits and do not generally lead to a sustainable increase in the practice of sport by the general public. To remedy this, the summit aims in particular to reduce by 15% by 2030 the proportion of people who do not practice enough physical activity. Currently, in developed countries, sport represents around 2% of GDP, compared to only 0.5% in Africa.
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