Senior officials responsible for physical education and sport will soon meet up in Baku for MINEPS VII.

MINEPS is the only global platform of its kind, engaging governments, intergovernmental organizations, the sport movement, academia, and specialized NGOs.

Founded in 1976, the conference facilitates intellectual and technical exchange in the field of physical education and sport.

As reported by Azernews, Azerbaijan and UNESCO have agreed on holding the VII MINEPS conference in Baku on March 14-17, 2023.

The document was signed by Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Farid Gayibov and Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO Gabriela Ramos.

The decision to hold such a large-scale conference is a clear manifestation of the international community's trust in Azerbaijan, a country well-known for its countless sports achievements.

Since 1992, Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee has put a lot of hard work and commitment into dynamic sports development in the country.

Thanks to President Ilham Aliyev, who has headed the committee since 1997, Azerbaijan has witnessed a rapid development of the Olympic movement. It didn't take too long to wait for the national sportsmen to reach the highest pedestals at major sports competitions.

At the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Azerbaijani sportsmen won a total of 58 all classes of medals.

National Paralympians also showed very impressive results at Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympics, beating numerous records.

Swimmer Raman Salei won gold medals in 3 categories (S12 100 meters backstroke, S12 100 meters freestyle, and S12 100 meters butterfly). He became the first three-time Paralympic champion in the history of Azerbaijan.

Hamid Heidari (F57) set a world record in the javelin throw with a result of 51.42 m.

The athlete Elvin Astanov (F53 - shot put) broke the world record with a score of 8.77 metres.

Vali Israfilov (S12 - 100m breaststroke) set a Paralympic record with a score of 1: 04.86.

The athlete Lamia Valiyeva (T13) broke the Paralympic record - 55 seconds in the 400-meter race.

At the same time, Azerbaijani female chess player has made a major breakthrough.

Govhar Beydullayeva has gone down in history as the first woman grandmaster to become the world champion among 20-year-olds in the history of Azerbaijani chess.

Beydullayeva drew with Zala Urh (Slovenia) and Laman Hajiyeva with Livia Jarocka (Poland) at World Junior Chess Championship U20. She secured a gold medal in the world championship of under-20 chess players.

As for now, the Land of Fire seeks to hold 57 international sports competitions and conferences this year. The list of events includes Badminton Europe Congress (BEC), U22 European Boxing Championship, the 7th Azerbaijan and Baku Championships in Trampoline Gymnastics and the 19th Azerbaijan and Baku Championships in Tumbling, etc.