Baku, Azerbaijan, May 21
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
The First European Games in Baku will be a uniting and inspiring sports festival for all of Europe, a significant contribution for peace and dialogue in the European continent, Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Valdas Lastauskas told Trend.
"Azerbaijan is doing an amazing job in developing infrastructure for the First European Games," he said. "We may follow the process very closely, as the [Lithuanian] embassy is close to one of the venues of the Games - Heydar Aliyev Sports Arena."
"The National Stadium of Azerbaijan, which you can see driving from the airport to Baku, is already fascinating the embassy's guests from Lithuania," he added.
"As far as I know, Azerbaijan already has very rich experience in holding large international events and for us there are no doubts that the First European Games in Baku will be a success," the ambassador added.
Baku 2015 is the first ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent which will take place on June 12-28, 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition. Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.
The decision to hold the First European Games in Azerbaijan has confirmed its modern European identity, its openness to women and men of different nations and religions, according to Lastauskas.
He added that the Lithuanian delegation in the Games will consist of more than 100 people.
"It will include our best athletes who will participate in many competitions and, hopefully, will win First European Games medals for Lithuania," he said.
"As the Games draw close, we wish all the best for sportsmen of Azerbaijan and other states as well," the ambassador said.
Edited by SI