The FIA Institute, in cooperation with the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) and the Automobile & Touring Club of Lebanon(ATCL), today hosted its first Middle East and North African Development Workshop in Beirut, Lebanon bringing together National Sporting Authorities (ASNs) from across the region. This represented the first opportunity for the established Middle Eastern clubs to work alongside their Arabic speaking colleagues from North Africa, strengthen the existing relationships between them.
The workshop was the last in a series of similar meetings designed to promote the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund across various regions of the world ahead of 2012 application deadlines which will involve the distribution of Euro 6.4 million in grant aid.. The Workshop was held alongside the meeting of the Middle East and North African (MENA) ASNs and was hosted by FIA-Vice President, and Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem and was attending by representatives from 22 Countries.
The morning session of the workshop featured presentations from ASNs from across the region on their experiences of engaging with the Fund, in particular in relation to the Officials and Young Driver Programs, as well as with the selection of candidates to the Young Driver Excellence Academy. ATCUAE Chief Executive Mahir Badri was among the speakers and presented on the ATCUAE’s highly successful UAE Motorsport Star program and Mr. Hani Shaban who presented the Syrian officials safety training case study.
The afternoon session was dedicated to reviewing ASN draft proposals to the Fund, with a team from the Institute offering advice and feedback for use by ASNs ahead of the deadline for funding applications on 30 September. Mohammed Ben Sulayem FIA Vice President said: “The workshop has provided ASNs with a great opportunity to understand the benefits of additional support for their projects from the Fund. I urge them to grab this great opportunity.”
Richard Woods, FIA Institute Director General said: “We were pleased to complete our global series of regional workshops with North Africa and the Middle East. ASNs from the region are prime candidates for development projects, and I hope that through today’s workshop we have been able to assist ASNs to ensure they put forward strong projects.”
Jacques Salah on behalf of the ATCL added ‘’”It was a great honor for us to host the Institute Workshop. From an ASN point of view the opportunities offered by the Fund are significant, and we are looking forward to exploiting them during this funding round.”
