EOC Coordination Commission (CoCom) Chair Spyros Capralos today praised local organisers of the European Games Minsk 2019 for the progress made in the last six months but cautioned that a great deal is left to be done with less than 10 months to go until the start of Europe’s premier multi-sport event.

“We are now in our second and last half of our preparations. Now is the time to intensify our efforts and to set the grounds for success,” Capralos said following the second CoCom meeting for the Games in the Belarus capital. “The success of every major international multisport event is dependent on the flexibility and quick decision-making of the organising committee. Because of the size and scale of the event, the Minsk European Games Organising Committee (MEGOC) must be as flexible as possible as they move towards the operational readiness phase.”

Click here for a short video message from CoCom Chair Spyros Capralos.

During the two-day meeting, MEGOC delivered presentations on all operational areas, including the sports programme, competition venues, marketing, catering and transport. Constructive discussions were held after each presentation.

“The previous two days gave us the opportunity to understand the progress and the challenges of the organising committee,” Capralos said. “MEGOC is doing a good job but there is still a lot to be done. By working hard and working together we will ensure the success of Minsk 2019 that will showcase the best athletes in Europe and the best of Belarus.”

Members of the CoCom were taken on a venue tour of the 12 facilities to be used for the Games, including the Falcon Club, where the Belarus International Badminton competition is currently taking place, the sixth of 22 test events scheduled ahead of the European Games.

“I think that we will have excellent European Games here in Minsk. It’s a country full of the spirit of sport that has a great amount of experience in organising big sports events,” said EOC President Janez Kocijančič, who discussed the Minsk 2019 project with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday. “I expect that over the next eight or nine months we will face some challenges and smaller organisational issues but due to the meetings I had with President Lukashenko I think we are absolutely able to deal with those problems. The preparations are going very well, there is a lot of enthusiasm invested in this event and I think that Belarus would like to use it to open up to Europe and show that it is a new, modern nation.”

Also joining the members of the CoCom and team of technical experts were EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi, EOC Vice President Niels Nygaards, CoCom Vice Chair Zlatko Mateša and the heads of European Federations, including European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen, European Judo President Sergey Soloveichik, European Canoe Association President Albert Woods and European Table Tennis Union President Ronald Kramer.