By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

All the issues related to the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, to be held in Azerbaijan, are being solved in time, and there are no problems at the moment, Azad Rahimov said at a press conference in Baku on April 6.

Executive Director of the Baku 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games Operations Committee, Rahimov, who is also Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports spoke of the 25th board meeting of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) in Baku held before the press conference. 

The minister noted that the meeting discussed important issues. It was decided to hold the next -- 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Istanbul, Turkey in 2021.

The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games will be held in Baku on May 12-22, 2017. With over 50 participating countries, from across four continents, more than 5,000 athletes will compete in 20 sports disciplines that during the 12 days of competition. 

The minister stressed that Azerbaijan is doing everything necessary to ensure that the Islamic Solidarity Games are held at a high level.

Speaking at the event, Turkey’s Minister of Youth and Sports Akif Cagatay Kilic, who is on a visit in Azerbaijan noted that all the work, being carried out in Azerbaijan in line with holding the Baku 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games, is being conducted at a high level.

In turn, Prince of Saudi Arabia, President of the ISSF and President of Saudi Arabia`s National Olympic Committee Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz al Saud said that he was pleased with the process of preparation for the Games and believes that Azerbaijan will decently hold it.

Deputy Minister of Sports of Turkey Faruk Ozcelik also spoke at the event, saying that for his country this is a big honor to host the Games of Islamic solidarity after the brotherly Azerbaijan.

"We hope to hold the Games in our country as well as Azerbaijan," he said.

Head of the international relations department of the National Olympic Committee Kenul Nurullayeva said that the interest in the Games was, as expected, very high in the world.

"We can tell this by the number of tickets already sold for Games. There is huge interest for the Games among the participating countries, whose representatives are actively continuing to buy tickets for the competition," she said.