The Tahiti 2013 Local Organising Committee (LOC) was represented by CEO Noelline Parker and Operations Manager Nicole Bouteau who met with key political and sporting organisations as part of the preparations. Their first meeting took place in Paris, France, with Overseas Territories Minister Marie-Luce Penchard who underlined the benefits of this event for the Pacific region and commended organisers for the progress they’ve made so far.
Next up it was off to Brussels, Belgium, where Parker and Bouteau visited the European Commission to meet with European Deputy Maurice Ponga and Théodore Saramandis, Taskforce Manager for the Overseas Territories. This productive meeting was focused on the social, cultural and environment programmes around the event.
The LOC representatives then returned to Paris where they held discussions with the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) including Odile Lanceau, International Relations and Competitions Manager, and François Blanquart, National Technical Director. Lanceau provided useful insights having already worked as CEO of the Local Organising Committee for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille 2008. On the technical side, Blanquart offered to help the Tahiti national team and local referees enter more international tournaments so they are well prepared for the event.
Parker expressed her gratitude to the Federation for their ongoing assistance.
“FFF representatives have shown great support for Tahiti 2013 and we look forward to working with them in the lead up to the event.”
Organizer
The final meeting in Paris took place at the National Centre for the Development of Sport (CNDS) with a number of senior management in attendance.
The CNDS is an organization which financially supports high level sports. Although Beach Soccer is not technically regarded as a high level discipline for the organisation, they too gave their backing to the Tahiti 2013 project.