New-York, 30 October 2006 – The United Nations Office of Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) and Eurosport have entered into a partnership to work together on the promotion of sport for development and peace.

The aim of this mutual engagement is to create and develop synergies to ensure a greater awareness about the beneficial role that Sport plays in development and peace throughout the world.  UNOSDP and EUROSPORT will combine their respective strengths to highlight the value of Sport for the enrichment of humankind and towards the construction of a better world.

Sport is today an effective way for young people to share their experiences and to get involved in community, national and international activities in order to accelerate progress in reaching the Millennium Developments Goals, as defined by the United Nations.

With its impressive pan-European network reaching over 108 million homes throughout 59 countries, EUROSPORT will offer strong media exposure for the UNOSDP and United Nations’ events and activities related to the broad theme of sports for Development and Peace.

Today’s announcement is in line with Eurosport’s own vision of the role of Sport in the world and in people’s lives.
Since its creation Eurosport has been truly dedicated to the promotion of Sport and its associated values through major international projects.
Eurosport, as official broadcaster of the Olympic Games, promotes the Olympic Movement all throughout the year and co-produces the “Olympic Magazine” with the International Olympic Committee. Eurosport is also broadcaster of the Paralympic Games and supports the Celebrate Humanity Campaign and the WADA movement (World Anti-Doping Agency).

In January Eurosport was honoured to be invited to participate to the World Economic Forum Davos as moderator on the theme of “The role of Sport in economic development”. Following that Eurosport has supported the UNITAID project, which aims to generate international solidarity lever to fight against AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

Last September, Eurosport devoted media coverage to the Homeless World Cup, a street soccer tournament organized by Mel Young, uniting teams of homeless people from all over the world.  And more recently last week, Eurosport took part in the 5th World Forum on Sport, Olympic Education and Culture organized by the IOC in Beijing, China.

The agreement signed today with the UNOSDP is the testament of Eurosport’s and the United Nations’ commitment to strengthen the role of Sport in development and peace.

“The cooperation with the UNOSDP has already begun. Eurosport was present at the UN European Youth Leadership Summit held in Vienna in June, and today Eurosport is also at the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit in New York to cover the event. Eurosport is not only an international sports broadcaster; it has also always been involved in the global promotion of sport as a vector for human development. Our entire company and Eurosport’s employees feel implicated in this important challenge and we are delighted to be a part of such a worthy cause.” said Mrs. Annette El Khoury, V.P. Managing Director of Eurosport Group.

Dr Djibril Diallo, Director of the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace added “This Summit will highlight the power of sport with its great appeal to youth bring people together and improve the lives of individuals and societies”.