Azerbaijan, Baku, April 11 / Trend, M. Aliyev /
Baku, as a candidate to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, has a lot of advantages, Azerbaijani Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov believes.
"At present, our main priority is to be included in the short list of candidate cities," Rahimov said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.
He called the climate perfect for sports contests, as well as great places "with an amazingly beautiful coastline among Baku's advantages."
"We are also ready to familiarise guests with our country's rich history. In addition, it is particularly important during financial instability, as Azerbaijan's economy is one of the most powerful and fastest growing in the world," Rahimov said.
Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar), Madrid (Spain), Istanbul (Turkey) and Tokyo (Japan) have applied to host the Olympics-2020: The first presentation of the candidate cities applications will take place in Moscow.
According to Rahimov, Azerbaijan fully supported Russian Sochi city's claim to host the Winter Olympic Games.
"Sochi's application inspired us to apply to host the Olympic Games in 2016 in Baku and our current application for 2020 Summer Olympics. We maintain close ties with the 'Sochi-2014' organising committee and learned a lot from Sochi's preparation experience. Support from the National Olympic Committee of Russia and Russian representatives to the International Olympic Committee is one of the key factors for the success of our application," Rahimov said.