Sebastian Coe has received the backing of the six Confederations that make up the IAAF following a meeting in France ©IAAF

Planned reforms due to be introduced by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe have been unanimously supported by the sport's six Area Associations following a meeting of the respective Presidents at Cap d'Ail in France.

Coe, the British two-times Olympic 1500 metres champion, has endured a tumultuous reign in charge since being elected in Beijing in August last year.

The 59-year-old has been accused of being aware of the corrupt work undertaken by predecessor Lamine Diack, who was arrested for alleged involvement in accepting bribes to cover up positive drugs tests involving Russian athletes in November.

Papa Massata Diack, Valentin Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov have all been banned from any involvement in the sport for life after the IAAF Ethics Commission ruled they were part of a blackmail plot that covered up Russian doping failures.

It has also been reported that Coe had passed on rumours of “brown envelopes” during the campaign in 2011 when London were bidding against Qatar's capital Doha for the right to stage the 2017 World Athletics Championships and he was the IAAF vice-president.

Suggestions have arisen that Coe was the "senior IAAF official" UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner was referring to when he claimed he had been told of allegations of impropriety by the Doha bid.

These have both been denied.

The Briton has the support, however, of the heads of the six IAAF Area Associations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America and South America. 

IAAF President Sebastian Coe has endured a torrid time at the head of the governing body since his election in August of last year
IAAF President Sebastian Coe has endured a torrid time at the head of the governing body since his election in August of last year ©Getty Images

Only NACAC – the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association - President Victor Lopez was absent from this week’s meeting in France and he was replaced by Michael Serralta, the organisation’s general secretary.

IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka, who lost out to Coe in August’s election, and IAAF treasurer Jose Maria Odriozola were also present at the meeting.

Coe met with each of the six Confederation heads before discussions covering budgets, regional development centres and high performance training centres took place in the afternoon.

“We Presidents of the six IAAF Area Associations hereby resolve on 24 February 2016 that we fully and unequivocally support Sebastian Coe in his role, reform proposals and actions as IAAF President for now and for the future,” a joint statement from the Area Associations read.

Last month, Coe vowed to restore trust and credibility in the sport, outlining several key timelines to achieve the goal when announcing his roadmap for the future of athletics.

This included several measures he plans to implement including establishing an integrity unit which “ensures greater independence in reviewing key issues impacting upon the integrity of competition such as doping, corruption, betting and age manipulation” before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Coe has also reiterated his vow to double the anti-doping budget, while greater accountability of Member Federations in anti-doping and other integrity-related matters has also been outlined as a key reform area.

All these issues are expected to be discussed at the next meeting of the IAAF's ruling Council in Monte Carlo on March 10 and 11. 

To view the signed statement from the six IAAF Area Associations click here.