After the Fourth Pacific Sports Ministers Meeting in Papua New Guinea this month, all Sports Ministers from 19 Pacific countries who took part in this meeting —including Jonathan Fanene from American Samoa—agreed that they will expand their support for the development of athletes in Pacific Games teams by appropriating the necessary funds to sport development and national representation of their elite athletes.

Several presentations were given during the meeting from members of the council, including Justin Tkatchenko, Sports Minister of PNG for the Pacific Games; Hon. Magele Mauiliu of Samoa; Daniel Toara of Vanuatu, and Vidhya Lakhan, the President of the Pacific Games Council, and as a result of all the presentations, Ministers and Sports Administrators reached 17 items in their signed resolutions.

Some of the conclusions that Sports Ministers and Sports Administrators agreed upon, including re-dedicating themselves and their government to promote Pacific Values in Sport, were: discipline, integrity, fair play, respect of cultural and ethnic differences, gender equality, and fighting against doping.

In order to lift the profiles of sports in Pacific countries, Sports Ministers and Administrators agreed to provide funding and resources to encourage the youth of the Pacific into sports participation, and ultimately into the Pacific Games so that they may be exposed to these Pacific Values in Sport.

According to the resolutions from the meeting, “Ministers agreed to use Sport and the promotion of physical activity— including in schools— as a positive vehicle, particularly amongst the youth, and to combat non-communicable diseases, bullying and other social problems prevalent in Pacific communities today.”

In trying to encourage athletes to avoid using illegal drugs that affect their training and keep their minds from focusing on their sports, Ministers referred to the presentations by UNESCO and Oceania National Olympic Committees and re-affirmed the importance of the Berlin Declaration on Sports for All, as well as agreeing to the formal resolutions contained in the Annexure to this council.

When asked by Samoa News, Fanene said that preparations for the next Pacific Games in Tonga have not started, including preparation for the 2016 Olympics and Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu in 2017 —and he wants to make sure that all events that are in the meeting’s resolution will be put into action.

“We (Ministers) were told during the meetings in PNG last month that it’s our responsibility to find ways to develop sports in our country, and to make sure the government will play its role in providing assistance to all sports associations who are working together to develop each sport in their country,” said Fanene.

When asked about the support the government is looking at to assist each Sports association in each country, Fanene said that the government will provide facilities to train our athletes, and will also look at other ways to strengthen sports development in the territory.

In addition to assisting the development of sports in the Pacific countries, Ministers have also agreed to expand their support for the development of athletes in Pacific Games by appropriating the necessary funds to sports development and national representation of elite athletes.

Speaking on sports development in the Pacific, PNG Sports Minister Tkatchenko told Samoa News on the last day of the Pacific Games in Port Moresby that the key role all Pacific governments need to play to assist sports development in the Pacific region is to build more facilities for the Pacific athletes.

Tkatchenko said that PNG government pumped in millions of dollars investment to sports infrastructure to ensure the Pacific Games were a success.

“We invested (PNG) Kina1.4 Billion into the Games to ensure that the Pacific Games were not only a success but a stepping stone for sports in the years to come for PNG and all Pacific Island nations, hopefully producing world champions and Commonwealth champions over the next 10 - 30 years with the facilities that we now have,” said Tkatchenko in an exclusive interview with Samoa News.

When Samoa News asked Fanene about funding from the government to strengthen sports development, the Sports Minister said that while the government has limited funds, Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga will work together with his office to make sure funds would be available to support the development of sports in the country.

Severals local sports officials and coaches told Samoa News that they believe the main challenge that sports associations are facing at this time is not enough funding to develop sports and to buy sports equipment for athletes.

“Let’s give our support to the Sports Minister and the government. I know he’s new to this position, so we hope in the next two years or more, we’ll be able to witness changes and development in sports,” said another sports official who did not wish to be named.

An official who did not support Fanene’s plan said that he believed the American Samoa National Olympic Committee (ASNOC) has the duty to develop sports and encourage each association to step up and do their part— not the government.

There were some concerned comments on Samoa News website about this issue, when an article was published last week about Fanene’s plan for sports development in the Territory.

Another commentator said that “coaches need to feed their families, and there must be a small stipend at the end of the year to assist them”.