St Kitts and Nevis signs MOU with India for sports collaboration

St Kitts and Nevis signed a historic agreement with India to boost sports in the Federation. The MOU was signed earlier on Monday between Dr Denzil Douglas - Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Indian Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi. 

The MoU was signed as Dr Denzil Douglas is currently on a 6-day visit to India. It aims to boost bilateral relations between both countries especially the sports sectors, benefiting the young athletes.  

According to the information, both the sports ministers discussed the various areas of cooperation, promising a longstanding relationship. 

During the meeting, Indian Sports Minister also emphasised that both the nations share similarities in development issues and strong partnership among Global South and India will be willing to pursue further avenues for development for the people of St Kitts and Nevis.  

He also talked about the assistance India offered the Federation in providing vaccines and medical equipment during COVID 19 and noted, “India stands with St Kitts and Nevis and would like to assist in diversifying its economy and providing many opportunities for its people.”. 

It was also reported that the salient areas of cooperation under this MoU comprises of training and competition of athletes and athletic teams, providing training and technical assistance to coaches, exchange programmes as well as visits of sports leaders, sports administrators, officials, professionals, sports support personnel and technicians.  

The MoU also states that there will be an exchange of youth/junior in various disciplines including shooting, badminton, kabaddi, wrestling and athletics. There will also be training, exchange as well as attachment programmes for sports sciences personnel and other development assistance in sports science.  

Not only this, but there will also be training, exchange and attachment programmes in the areas such as coach education, sports education, curriculum development, sports management and sports infrastructure development and management.  

For infrastructure and programmes in the development of information and research in this field, there will be training and exchange of technology, as stated in the MoU.  

Moreover, India and St Kitts and Nevis will also collaborate in sports research and development in training, partnership in the areas of sports science, research and development and anti-doping programmes and also partnership in the area of physical education and fitness development programmes between the universities or physical education institutions of both the nations.  

Notably, Dr Denzil Douglas arrived in India for the first ever foreign ministerial visit from St Kitts and Nevis on Sunday and was warmly received by a diplomat Umar Shankar Mishra.  

He commenced his Monday morning with a very significant meeting with the Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Jitin Prasada. During this meeting, matters relating to Trade, Business and Commerce were discussed, to explore new avenues and to strengthen the diplomatic ties. 

Both the ministers also exchanged gifts to mark this historic visit with Minister Dr. Douglas hoping that this official visit will bear tangible benefits for both countries of St Kitts and Nevis and India.  

The Kittitian minister is also expected to meet his counterpart Dr. S Jaishankar today (August 6, 2024) to discuss various matters of common interests and talk about strengthening the bilateral ties between both nations.