Wilfried Lemke
Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Under Secretary General

Sport is a universal language and its expressions are diverse and ubiquitous all around the world. It constitutes a lively element of society and reflects society at the same time. Thus sport is organized and practiced with passion on all levels in a country - whether they are local, regional or national.

In my capacity as Special Adviser, I aim to increase the understanding of sport and to encourage its utilization as a powerful tool to achieve internationally agreed development goals as well as to promote peace in conflict and post-conflict situations. This is why I highly welcome the initiative to hold the conference entitled 'Regional Sport, International Participation: The Role of Regions in Building a Legacy of Sports Participation and Excellence', which will surely serve as an excellent opportunity to find ways to help the Iraqi people recover from an extensive conflict with the help of sport.

While sport is not a panacea for all of the challenges faced by developing countries and those emerging from conflict, evidence proves that well-designed programmes using sport can significantly contribute to capacity-building, education, good health and support peace-building efforts.

Sport can also be a powerful tool in shaping individual as well as common identities within any given community. It is a peaceful means for nation-building as well as for strengthening the sense of belonging in local and regional contexts.

I would like to congratulate the Sports Council of Wales and the Ministry of Sports and Youth of the Kurdistan Regional Government for this conference, which I trust will be a valuable forum to share ideas and good practices from a regional perspective and to harness the power of sport as a flexible and cost-efficient way to foster development and peace.

I wish you much success and a fruitful gathering,

Wilfried Lemke