Officials of the French Embassy in Ghana engaged with Officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Authority and the Ghana Olympic Committee to appraise and take stock of diverse support from the French Government to the development of sports in Ghana.

The meeting which took place at the Accra Sports Stadium on Friday 21st June, 2024 focused on a project being undertaken by the French Government in order to evaluate the contribution of sports to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Ghana and capacity building of human resource in the sports industry.

In his welcome address, the Director General of the National Sports Authority Hon. Dodzie Numekevor expressed his appreciation to the French Government for the attention and support for the development and promotion of sports in Ghana, which has been beneficial to some of the elite sporting disciplines.

He said the Authority will continue to collaborate with the Embassy to ensure that most of the Federations affiliated to the Authority will also benefit from this support, in order to churn out high performance athletes to compete and win laurels for the Nation.

The Head of the Sports Directorate at the University of Ghana, Dr. Bello Bitigu also spoke on the French Embassy funded research being undertaken by his team with regards to the contribution of sports to GDP in Ghana, which is expected to be presented in phases accordingly. He further requested for an extension of the time period to enable the team to do a comprehensive research work on the project, since this is the first of its kind in our sporting history.

Mr Babak Amir-Tahmasseb and Mr Vincent Le Croller, Officials of the French Embassy also took turns to throw more light on related issues bothering on gender equality, para sports, INSEPS involvement in the sports developmental agenda among other issues. Other notable personalities who contributed in the discussion include Mr Ben Nunu Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Mr Samson Dean who is the President of the National Paralympic Committee, Mohammed Shanoon, Secretary General of the GOC, Marine Hayem of the French Embassy among other dignitaries present.

In his closing remarks, the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Evans Opoku Bobbie also thanked the French Government for their continuous support in our sports developmental agenda and further emphasized on the importance of having a research document on the contribution of sports to GDP of our country.

He further stated that this research findings will offer an opportunity for sports regulators and practitioners alike to be able to justify budgetary estimates request on sports to the appropriate Authorities. He also used the occasion to thank all the stakeholders who contributed to the success of the forum.