Recently the UIM President Dr. Raffaele Chiulli visited the Kingdom of Bahrain where he had a series of meetings to help promote powerboat racing.
The first of these was with His Highness Sheikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Vice President of the General Sports Authority where President Chiulli took the opportunity to speak about the challenges of the global sport scenario. He expressed his appreciation to the great development of sport in the Kingdom of Bahrain who have hosted many high-level sporting events and championships. He also praised the support of His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa for his continuous efforts to advance sports and athletes in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Discussing the future of watersports, the UIM President said
It was an honour to meet His Highness Sheikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and to share our visions. Bahrain is fast becoming a major hub for sports organisations with an increasing number of international sports events being held in the country. We can see they have an incredible passion for watersports, and we are happy to provide our cooperation with the Bahrain Sport Authorities to establish the Bahrain Powerboating Federation.
That particular meeting was the closure of a very intense and fruitful week in Bahrain. Whilst in Bahrain he met with Mohammed Ben Sulayem who was recently elected President of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
Ben Sulayem successfully campaigned under the banner ‘FIA for Members,’ committing to double motor sport participation worldwide, strengthen diversity and inclusion and be a leading opinion-former on sustainable mobility, ideas that the UIM President shares.
They identified new key areas of interest to be addressed to strengthen the cohesion between the two motor sport federations, in particular the development of best practices in the field of safety, the commitment towards a more sustainable future, the implementation of green technologies and to render the sport more inclusive.
With so many areas for positive collaboration, both Presidents underlined the importance of continuing to work together to build on the foundations of this initial meeting.
The UIM President also enjoyed an amazing experience with Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A at the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Grand Prix of Bahrain, where he witnessed Charles Leclerc winning the opening round of the 2022 world championship, leading home Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari 1-2.
Raffaele Chiulli said
It is essential to have a platform between organisations with close synergies. In each of our sports, we are constantly seeking to innovate in order to enhance fan experience, competition structures and general development. I would like to thank President Ben Sulayem for the very constructive exchange which underlined the joint wish to further strengthen the cooperation existing among international motor sport federations. I am convinced that jointly we can more effectively exchange best practices. My heartfelt congratulations to FIA for the organisation of this Grand Prix and to Ferrari for the amazing victory and start of the season.
