Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

More than 1,000 new trees were planted by the Baku 2015 European Games Operations Committee and the Azerbaijan Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, as part of sustainability initiatives that will leave a lasting legacy for the country and city .

More than 300 Azerbaijani and international BEGOC employees and Flamekeepers volunteered traveled to the Mushuigabad district, west of Baku, on March 11 to plant 1,000 pomegranate, oak, elm and pine trees that will grow together to become a new forest.

They were joined by the Youth and Sports Minister and Chief Executive Officer of Baku 2015, Azad Rahimov, and the Vice-President of the Olympic Committee of the Russian Federation, Igor Levitin, who planted a number of the trees.

“The Baku 2015 European Games will be a defining moment in Azerbaijan’s history, and will have a great impact on the country and its people,” Rahimov said. “We often highlight the human and infrastructure benefits that the European Games will bring Azerbaijan, and today we can demonstrate that they will also leave a green and sustainable legacy for Baku.”

Elchin Safarov, Corporate Director at Baku 2015, said: “Planting trees is an Azerbaijani tradition ahead of the Novruz celebrations. It is our way of celebrating the arrival of the year ahead, as well as the birth of new life: those of the trees that will be here for generations to come.”

The inaugural sporting event will open in the newly-built brand Olympic Stadium in Baku on June 12. Through 17 days of competition, over 6,000 sportsmen will represent 50 countries in 20 sports.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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