FEALAC Forum on Promotion of Traditional Sports

 FEALAC Forum on Promotion of Traditional Sports
Seoul, Republic of Korea
- November 17-18, 2011

 

Outline

The Republic of Korea (ROK) has the honor to host the “FEALAC Forum on Promotion of Traditional Sports” as a part of FEALAC national projects in Seoul during November 17-18, 2011. The government of the ROK cordially invites to the forum the policy makers and experts of traditional sports from the FEALAC member countries.

General Objectives

At the IX Senior Officials’ Meeting, sports were included in the former Working Group on Politics, Culture, Education (PCE) as a new field of cooperation (FMM/2010/3, para. 4). The member countries reached the consensus on the importance of sports as a useful means of strengthening cooperation in the framework of FEALAC. National Projects were implemented in this field such as “Sports as a Mechanism of Social Inclusion” implemented by Argentina. This forum aims to focus on the promotion of traditional sports. It has been widely recognized, as can be seen in the various activities carried out by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) such as the “Round table meetings on Traditional Sports and Game(TSG)”, that traditional sports plays an important role in promoting cultural diversity and preserving cultural identities at the local and national levels. Traditional sports also have a significant impact on national cohesion by fostering respect for the identities of communities from different cultural backgrounds.

FEALAC enjoys a rich diversity of traditional sports. There exist more than 100 traditional sports among the member countries that have obtained world wide recognition. Promotion of development and exchanges of the traditional sports will contribute greatly in strengthening mutual understanding and friendly relations between FEALAC member countries.

The general objectives of the forum are as follows. The forum aims to facilitate creation of networks and deepen understanding of traditional sports of FEALAC countries by inviting policy makers and experts in traditional sports of member countries to the forum and sharing their situation and policies and private sector’s initiatives in promotion of their traditional sports. We also aim to contribute in formulating effective government policy related to promotion of traditional sports by sharing and discussing successful experiences of member countries’ public and private sector. Lastly, the forum seeks to find ways to increase exchanges of traditional sports among FEALAC member countries.

The ROK has successful experience in promoting and developing its traditional sports Taekwondo to national brand and world-wide popular sports. Since the establishment of Korea Taekwonndo Association in 1961, the Korean government implemented effective strategies to promote Taekwondo, resulting in designation of Taekwondo as an official sports in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. There are now over 70 million practitioners of Taekwondo in 197 countries. Recently, the ROK government has established five-year (2009-2013) plan on further development of Taekwondo, seeking to promote Taekwondo as a complex cultural asset sport, incorporating tradition, culture and industry. The co-host of the forum, Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarters) will present government policy and private sector’s initiatives as well as successful experience in promoting Taekwondo.

Program at Glance

The tentative schedule for the “FEALAC Forum on Promotion of Traditional Sports” is as follows:

• Time and Venue : November 17-18, Seoul

• Forum on Promotion of Traditional Sports (November 17^th)

The forum will be divided into following three sections : The first session will introduce policies of promotion and exchanges of traditional sports. The second session will focus on private sector’s initiative as well as successful experiences on promotion of traditional sports industries. The third session will discuss ways to enhance exchanges and cooperation on traditional sports.

• Tour of traditional sports(November 17^th)

  • On the second day of the forum, the participants will have opportunity to visit Kukkiwon(World Taekwondo Headquarters) located near the venue of the Forum. The participants will be invited to actual Taekwondo practice and performance offered by Kukkiwon’s National Taekwondo Demonstration Team and tour of Korea’s traditional culture.
    
    1. Government Function & Role in Promoting Traditional Sports in Korea, China and Japan (Choi, Sunmoon Univ.)
    2. Private Sector's Effort in Supporting Traditional Sports and Examples of Successful Cases(Park, Youngsan Univ.)
    3. Focus on Dissemination, Exchange and Policy of Traditional Sports(Heo, WoMAU)
    
    

Forum Organizers

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT)

• Kukkiwon(World Taekwondo Headquarters)

• FEALAC Cyber Secretariat

Contact Point

Mr. Junhee Lee

Second Secretary

Latin American and Caribbean Cooperation Division

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Tel : +82-2-2100-7439

Fax : +82-2-2100-7955

Email : junhee@mofat.go.kr

Jong Cha

Researcher

FEALAC Cyber Secretariat

Tel : +82-2-739-9045

Fax : +82-2-2100-7955

Email : fealac@mofat.go.kr