Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, visited the site of the London 2012 Olympics in Stratford on 3 September to meet community coaches and athletes from the local Boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets.

David Miliband saw for himself the positive impact the Games are already having as he toured a multi-use games area in Stratford.

Speaking during the visit, David Miliband said:

"London 2012 is a massive opportunity for Britain and Newham and Tower Hamlets are lucky to be so close to the action."

"Newham has one of the most extensive free sports programmes in the country and being so close to the Olympics now is a good time to get into the sporting spirit".

The Foreign Secretary also took part in a Q&A session with local British Muslims. Newham is the most ethnically diverse borough in the United Kingdom and almost 30% of its population are muslim.

He said:

"One of the important things for me as foreign secretary is that wherever I go around the world, I find that the diaspora communities of Britain are a really good link and advocate for Britain, so that where it be in Pakistan or parts of Africa or the Sub-Continent, we have very very strong links that we seem to build on.

An important part of my job as Foreign Secretary is to reach back into our communities and make sure we are engaging them in the big debates we are trying to take forward internationally, whether on the Middle-East or on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and that’s what I will be taking about today."

David Miliband also praised the community spirit that exists in the area saying 'the sense that there is a shared activity of building a borough that supports all of its citizens is at the heart of this community'.

---

More about London 2012 

More about British Muslims

Back to newsroom

Back to top