UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomes the opening of the First European Games in Baku and commends the people and the Government of Azerbaijan for the organization of the Games, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at press briefing in New-York June 11.

Ban Ki-moon hopes that Azerbaijan will promote greater international and regional cooperation, he said.

“I think there were recent comments by Mr. [Wilfried] Lemke, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser [on Sport for Development and Peace] to German media. Just to say that they do not represent the exact views of the Secretary-General or the United Nations”, Dujarric said.

The Secretary-General trusts that they will not distract from the positive role that sports and youth can play in the promotion of peace and development around the world, he added.

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.

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.

Trend.az