The UN has granted General Assembly observer status to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), signaling a “success of undeniable political significance” for Italy, which succeeded in only 10 months in eliminating widespread skepticism”, as Minister Franco Frattini pointed out today in a press conference at Palazzo Chigi with Vice President of the IOC Mario Pescante.
For Italian diplomacy this was a question, in particular, of overcoming the doubts of many major nations. No small obstacle, given that the IOC, in addition to not being an intergovernmental organisation, needed unanimous approval for its new status. Italy’s victory, the minister explained, was achieved in a few short months: “we found 50 co-sponsor nations and were thus able to redirect the situation”. Pescante spoke of “a day of great pride”, and of the “miracle of Italian diplomacy and of Frattini”.
The IOC’s first concrete act in the UN will be to create sports fields—starting with mini-soccer—in Kabul and Baghdad. “The Italian Cooperation will work with the IOC to create these sports facilities in the Iraqi and Afghan capitals, aimed at directing young people toward sport rather than, as the minister stressed, “toward guerilla warfare or schools of the Koran”.
The Italian initiative, which will allow representatives of the International Olympic Committee to sit in on the most representative meeting of the international community, was brought to term this week with the Assembly’s favourable vote.