BRICS countries to cooperate in bidding for major sports events

South Africa will host the 4th annual Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) in Durban later this month for BRICS countries to discuss how they can help each other in bidding to host major sports events, it was announced on Wednesday.

This will be the first time for the event to focus on the role of BRICS in helping each other to bid for major events, said Rene Staack, General Manager of Thebe Reed Exhibitions, who is organizing the event.

The event, scheduled for October 28-30, is meant to share experiences and ideas among BRICS countries, Staack told Xinhua.

"SETE is a unique platform created to ensure greater collaboration between the sports and tourism industries. This is the first and only event of its kind globally," he said.

"We believe that it is important for the BRICS forum to deal with this issue especially since many of the BRICS countries have either hosted or will be hosting major sports events in the future. The debate will be aimed at understanding the support that BRICS countries should provide each other to share knowledge and also support each other when bidding for international events," the official said.

He said that in future it would be necessary for such meetings to be held in each BRICS country.

BRICS is the acronym for the major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"The BRICS Business Forum is an important forum for emerging economies and South Africa is a key player. Currently sports and tourism do not feature on the BRICS agenda. One of the outcomes of the discussion is the need for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to lobby our representatives in the BRICS Business Forum to prioritize sports tourism," said Staack.

He also stated that the African continent also needs to be lobbied to support each other's bids for international events.

Durban, the hosting city, would use the event to gain support for the 2022 Commonwealth Games bid.

There will be speakers from Glasgow and Melbourne Commonwealth Games Associations to share their experiences.

Participants will also discuss sponsorship trends, the role of the media in the promotion of SETE and the way to form partnerships with the media.

There will be various panels' discussions involving experts from banks, universities, sports clubs and tourism industry, according to Staack. Endi