Representatives of 34 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), National Federations (NFs) and International Federations (IFs) agreed to take forward the "Östersund Declaration", which outlines a number of measures needed to improve athlete development, talent identification and recruitment.

The workshop was hosted by the County Administration of Jämtland, the city of Östersund, Mid Sweden University and the NPC of Sweden as a gift to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for its 25-year anniversary in 2014.

The NPCs and NFs present agreed to develop athlete pathways by building partnerships with Governments, Olympic Federations and competition organisers, healthcare, education, business and research institutions, to provide opportunities for athletes from grassroots through to high performance levels.

In support, IFs agreed to expand their competition calendars, seek opportunities to hold multi-sport events, and initiate and promote research and development in areas such as classification so that NFs can grow their athlete numbers.

The IPC claims its role will be to join all organisations together in regular, active dialogue, develop tools to support IFs and NFs to build their organisational capacities, and take the lead in building a 10-year plan based on the Östersund Declaration.

This includes organising a multi-sport event where the world’s best competitors can compete alongside young and new Para-athletes, and using media interest in winter Para-sports to leverage commercial opportunities.

In agreeing to the declaration, all parties have committed to putting it to the relevant governing bodies and NPCs and NFs not present for formal endorsement by the end of this year.

"The results of the workshop on Para-athlete pathways in winter sports surpasses my expectations by far," said Johan Strid, secretary general of the NPC of Sweden.

"The combined efforts of committed representatives of NPCs, NFs, IFs and not the least IPC have resulted in a declaration outlining a clear direction in reaching out with winter sport to more individuals with an impairment."

Rita van Driel, an IPC Governing Board member, was also present for the negotiations.

"This represents a huge turning-point for winter Para-sport around the world," she said.

"Here in Östersund we have seen such passion and energy to increase opportunities for people to try Para-sport with the goal of increasing the quality of competition.

"The IPC will do whatever is necessary to support the declaration being taken forward and I hope that now the governing bodies will come on board to make the same commitment."

The workshop and declaration was a response to the IPC’s strategic plan, which aims to consolidate the Paralympic Winter Games as a premier sporting event and to empower athletes and support the development of winter Para-sports.

Östersund, which hosted the IPC European Ice Sledge Hockey Championships this month, is a hub of winter sports and is keen to stage more competitions.