Official chronicle

Official chronicle

18th Council of Europe Informal Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport wrapped up in Baku

22 September 2010 20:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA â€“ SPORT. 18th Council of Europe Informal Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport ended in Baku, APA reports.
According to apasport.az web-page, after the meeting of the Ministers responsible for Sport, hosted in "Gulistan" palace, the event members held the press conference dedicated to the discussions. Council of Europe’s Director General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport Gabriella Battani-Dragoni, president of the Governing Board of The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport Jean-Luc Janiszewski, chairman of advisory committee Predrag Manoylovich, a representative of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Leme Lissavetski, Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov attended the event.
The attendees noted that the discussion touched upon four issues - Bookmaker, visas, anti-doping policy and the independence in sport. Mrs. Battani-Dragoni reported that 8 of 17 issues, discussed in Baku, had been discussed 2 years ago at the conference in Athens. She also noted that the next conference would be hosted in Serbia.
Jean-Luc Janiszewski informed that more than 600 competitions had taken place in 2009: "Serbia has spent 1 million euros for on visa-related issues. We try to simplify the system, reduce the expenditures of the government. We are confident that till the next conference weâ€™ll achieve some results. "
Leme Lissavetski touched upon principle of "zero tolerance" to doping: "We have to try to strengthen the preventive measures of control and monitoring. There are tougher sanctions for doping. Over the past 2 years a number of athletes, who failed a doping control, has increased. For the purpose of stopping all these happenings, sports organizations should work together with the state. A new list will be promulgated in 2011. The names of new drugs will be included in the anti-doping convention and itâ€™ll get adopted again. Doping usage is unacceptable and we must fight against it.
Minister A. Rahimov touched upon issues related to the match-fixing: "At the conference we got acquainted with the research regarding to betting. Weâ€™ll commence the activity concerning the betting and for this purpose weâ€™ll invite the author of the research to Baku and learn his advices. Anyone wishing to operate in this sphere must buy for 3000 AZN "Posterminal apparatus and transfer the amount of this money to the bank. This amount provided as collateral and the money can be returned after the completion of the activities".