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Beijing, Almaty highlight bidding strengths to press

Xinhua, June 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

After Almaty of Kazakhstan and Beijing of China ended their first round of presentations for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games bids in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Tuesday, both delegations shed some light on the merits of their respective projects in a press conference.

"We were very encouraged by the IOC' s (International Olympic Committee) recognition of our vision, delivery capabilities and our ambition to take winter sports to over 300 million Chinese," Yang Lan, a famous Chinese anchor-woman and a member of the Beijing delegation, told the press.

Beijing' Mayor Wang Anshun said that the "IOC has recognised the work we have put into this bid, while giving us a positive evaluation."

He furthermore mentioned the favourable meteorological conditions prevalent in the Olympic sites, as well as China' s extensive experience in hosting and organising international sporting events.

When asked about air-quality, Wang stated that "clean air is essential for the population' s quality of life as well as being an essential condition for successful games."

According to the Mayor, a five-year clean-air action plan for Beijing is already reducing pollution by targeting major pollution sources.

While only less than two months remain until the IOC chooses the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games during its 128th session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, Wang told Xinhua that "we will carefully study the feedback that we received from IOC, and further refine our plans and preparations in all respects in order to assure that we are in the best possible position."

The vice Chairman of Almaty 2022 bid Andrey Kryukov told reporters that the city' s plan is to "fit the Olympic Games into our city" and as the country' s cultural and economic capital, situated in the mountainous area of southern Kazakhstan, Almaty is a prime winter sports location.

He also stressed the committee' s pragmatic approach, stating that "we' re not jumping to the future, we are going forward step by step."

According to Almaty committee members, financing "will not be a problem" given Kazakhstan' s growing economy and abundant natural resources.

"Our economy is stable and strong," said Kryukov, who also mentioned the country' s experience of hosting the Asian Winter Games in 2011.

The city' s mayor Akhmetzhan Yessimov confirmed that "we have guaranteed what we need to guarantee" and that time will tell whether the Central Asian country has done enough to clinch the 2022 Winter Games. Endi