"This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Sports cooperation is a significant part of our collaboration. Of course, all the programs were based on principles of mutual respect," Russia's Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin told the Russian Bureau of Report at a meeting with the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the CIS member states.
The Minister noted the importance of developing bilateral cooperation with the CIS countries, including Azerbaijan: "In our opinion, it is time to prepare joint plans for the medium term. I suggest that our partners from Baku consider the possibility of concluding similar sports cooperation programs."
"It is important that athletes do not become a platform for clarifying political relations, since the original value of sports aims to strengthen friendship, fostering respect for the culture of countries and the principles of equality," Matytsin said.
The Minister also spoke about the preparations for the first CIS Games to be held in Kazan on September 4 to 11 of this year: "We would be delighted to hold these competitions. We hope that the teams will take an active part in them."