Alexander Zhukov, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, was present alongside Sochi 2014 Supervisory Board member Alexey Gromov, the executive director of the Russian Olympic Committee Marat Bariev, Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pahomov and Mikhail Terentiev, secretary general of the Russian Paralympic Committee.

The sustainable development programme will be developed and presented during the Sochi 2011 International Investment Forum.

Leading Russian and international experts have contributed to the project, which will utilise international standards to create sustainable development principles for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

These will include harmony with nature, a world without barriers, economic prosperity, modern technologies, culture and national values.

Zhukov, chairman of the Supervisory Board, said: "The Sochi 2014 project allows Russia to take a giant step forward.

"We are already seeing the great positive legacy that the Olympic Games offers, including the development of a volunteer movement for the first time in Russia, free-barrier construction for people with a disability and the implementation of green standards.

"Following the approval of the sustainable development concept today, we want to tap into the potential for the Games to act as a catalyst to the full to bring long-term positive changes not only to Sochi but across the whole of Russia."

Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and chief executive of Sochi 2014, added: "We have ambitious goals concerning all aspects of our preparations for the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"The system of sustainable development, created largely on the back of the preparations for hosting the Games will become the most important legacy of Sochi 2014."

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