President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs Atifete Jahjaga received at a meeting today the director of the department for the relations with the National Olympic Committees of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Pere Miro and IOC Deputy Director, Mr Jerome Poivey. Mr Bekim Hasani, Chairman of the Kosovo Olympic Committee was also in attendance.
President Jahjaga appraised as important the visit of the representatives of the International Olympic Committee and praised the efforts of the IOC in support of the sport in Kosovo in general.
She stated that it is important that Kosovo becomes a member of the International Olympic Committee, as well as other sportive organisations, as this would create opportunities for further progress and advancement of sport in Kosovo.
Madam President emphasized that the young sportsmen and women of Kosovo must be enabled to participate in Olympic Games, as representatives of the state of Kosovo. On this occasion, she mentioned the participation of the young sportists from Kosovo, Ms Majlinda Kelmendi, at the London Olympics, as a representative of Albania, unable to represent her own state.
President of the Republic of Kosovo added that the help that IOC is providing is considerable and that modalities must be found that would allow the Kosovar sportsmen and women to participate at the next Olympic Games that will be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Director of the NOC relations department of the IOC, Mr Pere Miro said that their visit in Kosovo has the aim to see the level of the development of the federations and the scope for cooperation with them. He said that IOC understands the developments and conditions in Kosovo and emphasized the need for capacity building in the field of sport. Mr Miro stated that efforts are being made to ensure Kosovo’s representation in international sports.