Bach and High Commissioner Filippo Grandi pledged to build on the success of the Refugees Olympic Team which featured at Rio 2016.

A 10-strong refugees team competed at the Brazilian Games.

A similar team at Tokyo 2020 was described as a "work in progress" following the meeting.

”We have already been working together for 20 years, and we want to extend and expand our cooperation," Bach added to UNHCR staff members in Geneva. 

"This partnership helps us to put sport at the service of humankind.

“The Refugee Olympic Team was the IOC’s vision, but it would never have been possible without UNHCR, without the support on the ground to help us implement such a successful programme.”

IOC and the UNHCR first began cooperating in 1994. 

They have since collaborated on sports projects in more than 45 countries, allowing for the "provision of basic sports equipment, the rehabilitation of sports grounds and the organisation of regular recreational activities".

Since 2004, the IOC and UNHCR have organised a “Giving is Winning” programme before each edition of the Olympic Games. 

The programme consists of a "global solidarity and awareness-raising campaign for athletes and officials".

In 2014, IOC Honorary President and Bach's predecessor Jacques Rogge was appointed as Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Youth Refugees and Sport, to help "raise the profile of youth refugees and the impact of sport as a tool for peace and an inclusive society".

It comes as the IOC strives to maintain its reputation as a force for good amid problems justifying the expense of the Olympic Games as well as a series of corruption and doping scandals.

Grandi described the partnership as “very important”. 

"At the heart of our cooperation is the desire to use sport as a symbol of hope for people who have so few reasons to look to the future with optimism," he said.