Vice-president Iliana Iotova Held Talks with Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne
“The International Olympic Committee strongly relies on Bulgaria in fighting doping.” This is what Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, said at the talks he held with Vice-president Iliana Iotova in the Headquarters of the organization in Lausanne. Bach extended gratitude for the good contacts with the Bulgarian state, which he hopes would be currently strengthened, during Bulgaria’s Presidency of the EU Council. A top-level meeting will be organized dedicated to fighting doping within Bulgaria’s Presidency. In Thomas Bach’s words, a lot more work should be done in this sphere.
Children’s health is a priority sphere, in which a lot of projects can be implemented, it transpired at the meeting. The Vice-president called for setting up a special programme for children which should stimulate them to do sport. “The computers and tablets should be replaced by sport,” Iliana Iotova said.
Thomas Bach, for his part, voiced the idea of IOC for implementing integrational projects for children-refugees and unaccompanied children, such as for instance providing them with space for doing sport not only in the European countries, but also in their countries of origin. Pilot projects, in partnership with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, will be launched this year.
IOC President and Bulgarian Vice-president shared the opinion that the sport’s mission is to unite, particularly today, when so many things divide people in the world.
With pride the IOC showed the high jump baseboard fixed at Stefka Kostadinova’s unbroken world record in women’s high jump.
Earlier Iliana Iotova and the delegation she heads visited the town of Thun, which has been developing excellent partnership relations with the Bulgarian town of Gabrovo for more than 20 years.
At the invitation of the Jean Monnet for Europe foundation, later, at the University of Lausanne, Iliana Iotova will deliver a lecture on the future of the European project through the vision of the Bulgarian Presidency.