Baku, Azerbaijan, June 11
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan's youth and sports minister, Azad Rahimov, says that if any auditing company in the world proves that even one extra manat was spent from the budget of his ministry, he would be ready to resign.
Rahimov made the remarks June 11 at a press conference on the European Games, answering to a question about possible corruption during preparations for the Games.
The press conference was held under an instruction from Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.
Rahimov said Azerbaijan's budget for sports each year stands at about 10 million manats, and these funds are directed to pay for participation in various sports competitions, the purchase of sports equipment and other purposes.
Speaking about the budget of the European Games, the minister said that budget initially was 960 million manats, and then it a little exceeded one billion manats.
Rahimov also noted that the European Games should be a celebration of friendship and solidarity.
"Sport is a peace, it brings people together," he said. "No organization, trying to politicize sport, will achieve their goals."
The minister also noted that the main aim is to bring up healthy young generation.
Baku 2015 is the first-ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent that 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.