Azerbaijan President chairs first meeting of Islamic Solidarity Games Organising Committee

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has chaired the first meeting of the Organising Committee for the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games ©Getty Images

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has chaired the first official meeting of the Organising Committee for the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games, due to take place in Baku, it has been announced.

The Games are scheduled for May 2017 and come after the Azerbaijani capital staged the inaugural European Games in June of this year.

First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, who led the Organising Committee for Baku 2015, will take up the same role for the Islamic Solidarity Games.

“The fact that the Games are to be held in Azerbaijan once again demonstrates that Azerbaijan is a country enjoying great respect in the world,” President Aliyev said in a speech to attendees at the meeting.

“The Islamic Solidarity Games will become a very important international competition.

“This is our family, and we should try to conduct these games at the highest level.

“I am confident that Islamic Games will, in the first place, strengthen Islamic solidarity and show both the Muslim world and the whole planet once again that Islam is a religion of peace, mercy and brotherhood.

“The Games will also show the world that Azerbaijan is a country with great potential capable of conducting the most prestigious international competitions."

First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva will lead the Organising Committee as she did for Baku 2015 ©Getty Images

President Aliyev is also hoping the nation can build on the success of the first-ever continental multi-sport event in Europe, adding they will be looking to “relive those unforgettable days” when the Islamic Solidarity Games come to Baku in two years’ time.

The nation will also play host to a Formula One Grand Prix in 2016 and the Olympic Stadium in Baku will stage matches at UEFA Euro 2020, including one quarter-final.

Baku was awarded the event in 2013 at the General Assembly of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It will be the third occasion the Islamic Solidarity Games has been held since its debut at Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 2005.

The event was subsequently due to be held in Tehran in 2009 but was rescheduled for a year later and then finally cancelled following a dispute which arose between Iran and the Arab World over the use of the term Persian Gulf in logos for the Games.

It was then staged in Palembang, Indonesia in 2013.