“The relative department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has already managed two hundred sport diplomacy projects since last summer”, the Ministry’s State Secretary for Information and the International Representation of Hungary Tamás Menczer said at the opening of the University of Physical Education’s third Sport and Innovation conference.

“Without suitable foundations, there can be no development”, Mr. Menczer said in his speech at the event.

“Prior to 2010, our left-wing liberal friends did not provide sufficient funding for sport or for any other area that reinforces the community and could give rise to national pride”, the State Secretary said, adding that: “Since 2010 the Orbán government has laid the foundations for the introduction of everyday physical education through the construction of gymnasiums, training pools and world-class sports facilities, and accordingly we can now talk about the second step with relation to Hungarian sport: innovation”.

“We must pay attention to innovation to enable us to gain the most out of this wonderful gift that sport represents”, he said.

“We at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have realised our own innovation with the establishment of the sports diplomacy department last year”, the State Secretary declared, adding that during the past little over a year, the government has already managed somewhere in the region of two hundred Hungarian sports diplomacy projects worldwide.

“Hungary hosted some 113 highly significant international adult and under 18 sports events in 2017, 112 last year, and has already hosted around a hundred this year”, Mr. Menczer said. “Every single one of these has furthered the international perception of Hungary and its sports diplomacy goals”, he added. The State Secretary reminded those present that Budapest is this year’s European Capital of Sport. “These are the kind of results that Hungary is capable of achieving if it is led by someone dependable and not by political adventurers”, he declared.

The Ministry of Human Capacities’ State Secretary for Sport Tünde Szabó stressed: “It is a great joy to be able to host a conference that befits the past and future of Hungarian sport for the third time at the University of Physical Education”. “The goal of the conference is to contribute as much as possible to an even greater rate of success”, she said, adding that the next two days will include an unparalleled variety of topics for discussion.

“I hope the conference will enrich Hungarian sport with information, instruments and an image of the future”, the State Secretary added.

In his speech, Rector of the University of Physical Education Lajos Mocsai said the participants will have the opportunity to listen to one hundred and five lectures during the course of the two-day conference.

“Body culture, physical training and the art of movement are currently among the world’s number one innovative areas”, he said, explaining that the methodological and equipment-related developments that appear in grassroots sports are first tested and developed by professional athletes. “Human innovation and personality development are important in all walks of life, and the science of the will to win, i.e. making the best possible decisions in important situations, can be developed through sport”, he highlighted.

Priority topics at the conference include the role of sport in improving lifestyle and the quality of life, general prevention, performance diagnostics, and the role of drone technology in modern sport.

(MTI)