Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
Trend:
Iran's attitude to holding of the First European Games in Baku wasn't negative as distinct from its position when holding the Eurovision song contest in Azerbaijan, deputy director general of Trend International Information Agency Arzu Naghiyev said in an interview with Persian news service of Germany's Deutsche Welle Radio.
He added that it wouldn't be right to compare the Eurovision with the First European Games.
"The Eurovision contest is a music show and each country has the right to present this show to its audience as it perceives that," said Naghiyev.
The First European Games are sports competitions which are held in accordance with the world standards, he said. "Namely therefore, Iran has a positive approach to holding the Games and other attitude is out of question."
He added that the results of the investments made in holding of the First European Games in Azerbaijan are obvious.
"The new stadium built in Baku with over 65,000 seats is considered one of the most modern sports facilities in Europe. But the spending was directed not only to construction, but also to preparation of the sites for the works," said Arzu Naghiyev, answering a question by Deutsche Welle about the expenditure for the Games
He added that the territory allotted for the construction of the stadium was initially swampy.
"It needed to be drained," said Naghiyev. "The works carried out on that territory for demolition and provision of people with new housing and more can also be included here."
Naghiyev said he believes that in connection with Azerbaijan's holding the sporting events in the future, there will no longer be such large expenses.
"The European games are the first-ever, and naturally the costs are large," he said.
Naghiyev also noted that Azerbaijan intends to bring the tourism revenues up to $5 billion in the next five years.
He said the funds spent to hold the European Games will contribute to the development of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector, including tourism, services, communications, trade, and banking sector.
The European Games that kicked off in Baku June 12, will last till June 28.
There is 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.