Greater government aid needed for W/Cup 2007
KINGSTON: Managing Director & CEO of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Chris Dehring is urging host venue governments to strengthen co-operation with their respective Local Organising Com-mittees (LOCs) "in the home stretch" to ICC CWC 2007. Meeting with CARICOM Heads of Government last Thursday in Trinidad, he noted this year will be critical to the Event and that the link between governments and their LOCs in the nine Host Venues will have a significant impact on the delivery of many aspects of the tournament to be held in March and April 2007. "The LOCs require increasing support from and access to government officials in their countries, in order to expedite and implement fundamental components of the ICC CWC 2007 plan. The importance of such cooperation cannot be overestimated, especially from key ministries and government agencies in the Host Venues," said Dehring. Acknowledging that there are some challenges in particular areas such as Venue Development, Sunset Legislation and Accommodations, he said there have been varying ranges of pro-gress on such matters across the nine Host Venues. A serious effort, he added, is being made to address these critical issues and, thereby, achieve a "consistent and satisfactory level of performance" in each Host Venue. "We are already seeing greater government in-volvement in Barbados and Guyana, with guarantees that setbacks regarding certain deliverables will be promptly ad-dressed and that their Cricket World Cup commitments will be completed on time. This sense of urgency is necessary across the region." Heartened by the "positive dialogue" with re-gional leaders, the Managing Director stated that CARICOM has pledged continued support for the landmark venture and has agreed that governments and their representative LOCs must work even more closely from hereon given the realisation that the tournament is "just around the corner."
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"Greater government aid needed for W/Cup 2007"