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Combating corruption will constitute Azerbaijan’s priority task during the country’s Council of Europe Committee of Ministers chairmanship, according to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov.
Minister Mammadyarov made the remarks on June 23 at a PACE meeting as the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers.
“As a country having made considerable strides at the national level, we intend to contribute to the efforts of the Organisation in this area, notably by organising at the end of this month a high-level Conference in Baku in co-operation with the Group of States against Corruption – GRECO and the International Anti-Corruption Academy,” Mammadyarov said.
The minister added that the manipulation of sports competitions, including of football matches, constitutes an emerging challenge and a striking aspect of the corruption phenomenon.
“In this respect, I am very pleased that last month the Assembly gave its green light and provided comments on the current draft Convention on the manipulation of sport competitions through Opinion 287 (2014) adopted in the Baku meeting of the Standing Committee acting on behalf of the Assembly,” Azerbaijani minister underscored.
“The ball is now on the side of the Committee of Ministers, which is examining these texts in the light of the above-mentioned Opinion.”
Mammadyarov also stressed that Azerbaijani chairmanship will do its utmost to secure the adoption of the Convention as soon as possible.
“For us, who will host the first European Games in 2015, the adoption of the Convention during our chairmanship would constitute a source of great satisfaction, privilege and honor,” Mammadyarov said. “Furthermore, my Government will support this priority line by allocating financial support to the Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport – EPAS.”
Trend/az
