Dr Fehmida Mirza in her meeting with the Ambassador of the Republic of Portugal decided that Pakistan would officially write a letter to the secretary of state for youth and sports of Portugal in order to invite him and Portugal sports heroes to Pakistan.
Dr Fehmida Mirza held a meeting with H.E Mr. Paulo Neves Pochinho, Ambassador of Portuguese Republic. Matters of mutual interests were discussed in the meeting with particular focus laid on the promotion of sports and tourism in the country.
Federal Minister expressed that although both the countries enjoy amicable relations and support each other on the diplomatic forums, further strengthening of Pakistan-Portugal relations is the need of the hour as it will prove beneficial for both the countries, she stressed.
Dr Fehmida expressed her desire that she wants to invite the renowned sports players of the Portugal to Pakistan.
While expressing this desire she stated
“I hope Ronaldo comes to Pakistan, we will arrange a conference and can have him as a speaker, as this will be encouraging for our players”.
Dr Fehmida also stressed that as Portugal is a head of Pakistan in Football, Futsal, Judo, Table Tennis etc so Portuguese coaches can come to Pakistan for providing training to our players in these sports or else Pakistani players could be sent to Portugal for getting training. Likewise, she highlighted that Pakistan can extend help to Portugal vis a vis’ sports like squash, cricket and hockey.
Federal Minister while praising the sports model of the Portugal stated that their Sports model is very impressive especially the way their players have evolved and earned their names in the Olympics.
When ambassador was inquired about the strategy that is adopted for the talent hunt in Portugal,he stated that in Portugal clubs exist at different levels and coaches visit these clubs to choose the best players who later participate in the world events. Besides this, he told that all the big clubs run their own academies as well as facilities of schooling. To this Minister stated that she is also working on developing the sports academies of the kind and sought the help of Portugal in this regard.
Moreover, while highlighting the fact that 60% of the population of Pakistan is below 35 years of age she iterated her stance regarding the importance of the sports for this youth bulge and expressed that as this is a low hanging fruit, therefore, a lot could be achieved through mutual cooperation.
Ambassador proposed to the minister that 2 weeks long training camps could be arranged in Portugal for Pakistani players as well as coaches could be trained, to which she agreed.
Regarding tourism ambassador emphasized that one of the important pillar of economy is tourism and Pakistan has immense potential in it, much more than Portugal, he underscored.
Minister also invited the ambassador to visit sports complex. She also told him about the recently held women sports week in the sports complex, where females from all ages took part in various sports activities.
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