Mr Vitaly Mutko, Deputy Prime-Minister of the Russian Federation, drew attention to the role of sport in his opening remarks, mentioning match-fixing and doping as threats that must be tackled. “We must do more to support sport as a learning tool for young people – to eliminate doping, to pass on the positive values of health and fair play – because this impacts society as a whole,” said Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, in her message to the Conference.

MINEPS VI will formalise the actions that need to be taken in order to enable a process for follow-up of commitments in physical education, physical activity and sport policy.

As the opening session continued the high level speakers highlighted the need to pool efforts and remove the barriers that hinder collaboration between governments, policy makers and national Olympic committees, and national sport federations in order to effectively use sport as a tool for social change.

Participants at the Conference will decide on the follow-up to the Declaration of Berlin adopted by MINEPS V and on a new International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport. They will furthermore examine how sport can contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030. The Kazan Action Plan is to be adopted during MINEPS VI in Kazan on 15 July 2017.