Olympiad

Olympiad

European Olympic Committees General Assembly decides to hold the first European Games in Baku - PHOTOSESSION

European Olympic Committees General Assembly decides to hold the first European Games in Baku - <span style="color: red;">PHOTOSESSION

08 December 2012 12:20 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan is represented at the assembly by the Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov, Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Azerbaijan Chingiz Huseynzade, AFFA Secretary-General Elkhan Mammadov, Director of International Affairs Department of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Ilham Madatov, Director of the International Relations Department of NOC Konul Nurullayeva and Executive Director of the Youth Foundation Farhad Hajiyev.

The second day of the General Assembly began with the presentation about Baku and its sports facilities. The first speaker was the President of European Olympic Committee (EOC) Patrick Hickey spoke about the history of the idea of holding these games and he supported organization of the European Games in Baku. He spoke about the achievements and development of our capital. Thereafter, Advisor to the President Andrew Greg took the floor and spoke about the concept of these games. Further, EOC president's special representative O'Kalagan Pierce gave information about the negotiations conducted with Azerbaijani side and the Federation on Baku's readiness to host the game.

After the speeches of EOC representatives, the floor was given to Azerbaijan. Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Azerbaijan Chingiz Huseynzade spoke about how much Baku wants to host the games, the enthusiasm of young people and population about the news. He also noted that the government, public bodies and sport federations of Azerbaijan were waiting for today's decision: ‘This is a historic moment in the history of the European Olympic Movement’.

Then the floor was given to the Director of the International Relations Department of NOC Konul Nurullayeva. She informed about the economic and political stability and development of our country. In her speech, Nurullayeva also spoke about the tolerance of population, how historically crossed the economic and cultural ways from ancient times to the present day.

AFFA Secretary-General Elkhan Mammadov spoke about the sports infrastructure of the city, international sports tournaments, championships took place in Baku.

In conclusion, delivering speech on behalf of the government of Azerbaijan, the Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov gave political and financial guarantees, as well as guarantees for the safety of participants, full readiness of the sports infrastructure for hosting these games. After the speech the film on history, sports and cultural infrastructure of Baku was demonstrated at the event.

The secret ballot was held after the speeches, out of 48 participants 38 voted for, 8 against, 2 abstained. Consequently, for the first time in the history, General Assembly of the EOC decided to hold the European Games in Baku. The representatives of Armenia refused to take part in the voting.