The Australian Government, Cricket Australia and the International Cricket Council today signed up to a cricket partnership for capacity building and strengthening of cricket development programs in the Pacific.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the agreement today in Canberra at the Prime Minister’s XI cricket match along with Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland and the International Cricket Council (ICC) President David Morgan.

Sport is widely recognised as a vital tool in building stronger communities, not least through providing opportunities for youth leadership and achievement, and the partnership will give players, leaders, administrators, coaches and officials opportunities to progress to levels beyond community competitions, as well as strengthening the sport at the grassroots.

The cricket partnership includes Government support of up to $1.6 million over four years, and will initially focus on Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Solomon Islands.

The partnership is an agreement between the ICC’s East Asia-Pacific development program, CA and the Australian Government’s Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Sports Commission.

The Prime Minister announced $26 million in sports-related assistance to the Pacific island countries at the Pacific Islands Forum in August 2009. This includes $15 million over five years to establish and support sport partnerships between Australian and regional sporting federations in the Pacific region.

The Pacific Sports Partnerships program works with the Australian Sports Outreach Program, which works in partnership with local authorities and communities in developing countries to increase their capacity to deliver inclusive, sports based programs that contribute to strengthening communities.

The Prime Minister signed the first Pacific Sports Partnership last year at the Pacific Islands Forum with Football Federation Australia and the Oceania Football Confederation. Partnership agreements with netball, rugby league and rugby union are expected to be completed early this year.