ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar directed the secretary Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) to move a summary for budget allocation to be earmarked by the Ministry of Finance for mega event of 14th South Asian Games (SAG)-2023 to be held in Pakistan.

The minister also directed president Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Pakistan Sports Board, and the IPC Ministry to include the largest city of the country, Karachi for the event hosting of 14th SAG-2023.

The minister gave these directions, while chairing the first Steering Committee meeting on 14th SAG 2023.

It was brought into the notice of the committee that events to be held in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Islamabad, while the preparation of the Secretariat for the SAG was also underway and it will be finalised soon.

The committee was informed that training camps of 14th SAG-2023 for volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo, athletics, and hockey were arranged and foreign coaches for volleyball and taekwondo were engaged.

The president POA, in his briefing, apprised the committee that the prime minister had approved 14th SAG-2023 and the POA has constituted a working committee for the preparation to conduct the mega event. Pakistan last hosted the regional sports gala in Islamabad back in 2004.

The Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives highlighted that our aim is to showcase soft image to the world that Pakistan is a safe and peaceful country for sports and other international events and has the capacity to hold such mega events.

During the meeting, the president POA apprised the committee that total, 27 games will be played and 5,000 people across the SAARC region, which includes athletes and officials are expected to take part of the mega event. The secretary Sports Punjab assured the committee that the Punjab is completely ready for holding the event to be held in Punjab, particularly, in Lahore.

Furthermore, the committee also discussed matters related to logistics, security, venue selection, player training, and hiring of foreign coaches. The initial requirements such as guarantee for entry of athletes on accreditation cards, free visa to dignitaries, tax and custom duty exemptions for athletes were also discussed in the meeting at length.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022