Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a Hungarian initiative with a full consensus to mark World Fair Play Day on May 19 each year.
“Today has started with a great Hungarian success,” the foreign minister wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, adding that 92 UN members had joined and co-authored the Hungarian proposal, “making a symbolic commitment and signalling their full support for our initiative”. He said the initiative was backed by a “global coalition”, including China, the US, Germany, South Korea, Indonesia, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates. The Hungarian initiative “promotes an approach to reinforce sportsmanship and the values it represents, such as abiding by the rules, respecting the adversary and combatting violence and doping,” Szijjártó said. Referring to the peace-promoting role of the Olympic Games, Minister Szijjártó said: “We want the whole world to remember … when athletes hugged after a competition even when they came from countries at war with each other.” “With less than three weeks before the 33rd Summer Olympics, it is no exaggeration to say that this has been the greatest demonstration globally of support for the independence of sports and against the tendency of the world falling into blocs again … and all this is associated with us