Previous Olympic hosts are lending their hands to the organizers
of the 2008 Games as experts from Australia and Greece came to
share their experience with their Chinese counterparts.
Led by Major-general Sotirios Tsenes, a group of four security
experts from Athens, the host city of the 2004 Olympics, opened a
three-day seminar on Tuesday with Beijing's Olympic Security
Coordination Group, coinciding with the launch of the
representative office of the Sydney-Beijing Olympic
Secretariat.
"The foundation of successful security work during the Olympic
Games is to predict all the potential dangers and make beforehand
preparations," Tsenes told the seminar.
"Strengthening cooperation with experienced international
organizations is also important."
Last November, the coordination group for the Beijing Olympic
Games signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on 2008 Beijing
Olympics and Paralympics Security Cooperation" with the Ministry of
Public Order of the Hellenic Republic, in a bid to enhance
cooperation between the two sides.
Greece spent a record US$1.5 billion on security for the 2004
Olympics, the first summer games since the September 11, 2001
terror attacks. The Greeks also received regular security advice
from several countries, including the US and Britain.
Besides security issues, the Beijing organizers will get more
support from Australia as the permanent China representative office
of Sydney-Beijing Olympic Secretariat (SBOS) was set up
Tuesday.
"Australia's support for Beijing has a long history," said Sandy
Hollway, senior adviser of SBOS and also the chief executive
officer of the Sydney Olympics organizing committee.
"The work of SBOS since 2001 has been of great mutual benefit to
Australia and to Beijing. Our office in China will be a continuous
channel of communication and a continuous mechanism for cooperation
between Australia and Beijing."
Sydney 2000 was dubbed the "best-ever" Olympics by former
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio
Samaranch.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2006)
