Businesses push for British sport expertise in Russia
UK Sport and Tourism Minister Hugh Robertson was in St Petersburg to promote the London 2012 legacy.
In advance of the ‘decade of sport’ in Russia (Kazan 2013, Sochi 2014, World Cup 2018 and several more international championships) he led a delegation of 18 UK companies , accompanied by the Chair of the British Olympic Association, Lord Sebastian Coe.
They met delegates from a range of organisations including the Russian sports agencies, Sochi 2014, FIFA 2018, and the Baku 2015 European Games.
As well as promoting London 2012 legacy expertise, the Minister also supported UK Sport’s campaign to attract future events to the UK, including bids for the 2016 Track Cycling World Championships (at the Olympic Velodrome), the 2016 LEN European Swimming Championships (for the Olympic Aquatic Centre) and the 2018 Youth Olympic Games for Glasgow.
The Minister said that there are already over 50 UK companies working on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including on the 45,000 capacity Sochi stadium.
The Minister attended a ‘Sport is GREAT’ reception at the British Consulate to mark the halfway point between the London and Sochi Games, where he spoke to 150 figures from Russian sport and business.
Earlier he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko on their bilateral co-operation in sport and spoke at events organised by PwC (a SportAccord Gold sponsor) who are working with UK Trade and Investment to support the UK sport sector in exporting its products and skills.