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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
SPORT and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane yesterday met with the Ambassador of Georgia Beka Dvali to deliberate on possible areas of co-operation in sport between the two countries.  

The ambassador paid a courtesy call yesterday on the Minister at his offices in Harare.

Briefing journalists soon after the meeting Dvali said they believe sport is one area the two countries can work together and share ideas.

“Today I am here with the Minister of Sport because we believe that sport is one of the areas where we could find common ground and to start co-operation, to start dialogue. It is very important in every way for us.

“Georgia is very prominent in different areas of sport and today with the Minister we discussed possibilities, how to boost our dialogue, interaction in this area.

“And our main approach and our common understanding is that we should build up institutionalised-kind of relationships in sport.

“We will create a strong legal footing, legal basis for our different sectors of sport to interact and have more interaction between the two countries,” said Dvali.

The two officials said some of the areas they were considering are rugby and wrestling, with the Georgian ambassador saying their success is based more on determination.

“In Georgia rugby is a kind of an ancient sport that Georgians played, it was called Lelo that’s why the nickname of Georgian team is Lelos.

“But for years it was kind of a suppressed sport and I wouldn’t say, for example in Georgia, it is kind of an elite sport.

“And I think this is where we could share experiences, how Georgians result having the kind of huge capacity like many countries have, how we managed to get in the top leagues, kind of.

“I think my main thinking here is determination. And, of course, Georgian government also put in place these kind of new programmes to bring rugby to the villages, the places that are disadvantaged. A lot here depends on enthusiasm.

“This is what we observed in Georgia,” said Dvali.

Hlongwane said Zimbabwe could learn from their counterparts.

“We did interact and discuss the possible areas of co-operation between Georgia and Zimbabwe in the field of sport.

“One such area that we touched on is the sport of rugby.

“Georgia has a strong rugby tradition and we obviously recognised that’s an easy area of interaction between our two countries.

“They have qualified a number of times for the World Cup. And it will be good for us to learn a thing or two about how they have been able to do that.

“Georgia is also very strong in terms of wrestling. And we are keen and eager to learn from our colleagues in Georgia on how to set up a thriving wrestling industry in our country,” said Hlongwane.

Hlongwane said they are also looking at the having Georgian companies involved in sport investing in Zimbabwe and sharing of technical experts.

“We also obviously did touch on the need for Georgian companies to invest in Zimbabwe, those that are involved in the production of sport goods and equipment as well as materials.

“There is also another area of co-operation, that of sharing technical experts in the various fields of sport.

“And of course we did agree, in order to institutionalise and provide legal backing to all these discussions, we do need to have in place a Memorandum of Understanding that contextualises all those issues, that brings all these issues together.

“The basis within which we should be able to explore and develop further the relations between the two countries,” said Hlongwane.

Hlongwane said they are hoping to have a draft of the MoU by July.