Belarus and Russia have signed an inter-state agreement on the issues related to the entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons of international sports events. The agreement was signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries Vladimir Makei and Sergey Lavrov.

In line with the document foreign fans will be able to travel through Belarus visa-free during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia from 4 June to 25 July. Russia, in turn, will introduce visa-free entry and stay on its territory for foreign fans attending the 2nd European Games in 2019.
MEGOC Head of Accreditation Anton Lyakhov noted that major sports events always attract a large number of spectators and fans.

– Signing the agreement is an essential step in simplifying the entry to Belarus for foreign sports fans and participants of the 2nd European Games, as it opens the Russian direction. Without such an agreement, a few athletes and supporters could use the visa-free entry, moreover, mostly Russian ones. In a certain period of 2019 a citizen of any European country can freely enter Belarus through the territory of Russia. This is a plus for athletes participating in the European Games who can focus on showing their best results. The spectators will enjoy the competitions of the leading athletes of the continent.

Minsk will host the 2nd European Games from June 21 to 30, 2019. The competition program includes 15 sports. 10 sports will be a part of the qualification system for the XXXII Olympic Games 2020. More than 4000 athletes from 50 countries are expected to participate in the largest sports competition in Europe. More than 200 medal events will be played at 12 sports facilities in Minsk region.

Belarus and Poland plan to hold a joint sports event in 2019, dedicated to the 2nd European Games and the 100th anniversary of the Polish Olympic Committee. This decision was made following the visit of the delegation of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus to the Olympic Committee of Poland.

– These are the two key dates for the next year. The Polish side, through the mechanism of cross-border cooperation, proposes to organize a joint sports event, possibly in the format of the festival to the 100th anniversary of the Polish Olympic Committee and a month before the 2nd European Games, – said the CEO of MEGOC George Katulin.

According to prior arrangement, the event is planned at the Augustow Channel, located on the territory of the two countries. Its format will be discussed. Probably, it will include such sports as cycling, canoe sprint, athletics.

As George Katulin noted, during the meetings with colleagues in the Olympic Committee of Poland, a number of issues of preparation for the 2nd European Games of 2019 were discussed. The Belarusian side expects the arrival of a significant number of Polish fans. It is also important that sports fans who purchase tickets for the European Games will not need a visa.

The representatives of two Olympic Committees also discussed the possibility to hold training camps of Polish athletes in Belarus. They will be able to familiarize themselves with the competition venues before the 2nd European Games. In addition, the issues of training athletes for the XXXII Summer Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo (Japan) were discussed. Polish colleagues expressed their readiness to assist in developing the organization of the route for the delivery of the Belarusian delegation to the Games from Minsk to Tokyo via Warsaw.

The representatives of the NOC Belarus also took part in the ceremony of awarding the traditional Fair Play award of the Polish Olympic Committee, which was held for the 51st time.

As it was previously reported, the Belarusian delegation headed by the First Vice-President of the NOC Andrei Astashevich was in Poland from May 22 to 24 following the invitation of the President of the Olympic Committee of that country, Andrzej Krasnicki.

The agreement between the Olympic Committees of Belarus and Poland on technical and sports cooperation was made on May 18, 2011. In order to implement it, the parties regularly take part in joint events, carry out bilateral friendly visits, exchange information and experience on the development of the Olympic movement.

Few days left before the official opening of the main arena of the II European Games – Dinamo stadium after the reconstruction. Builders are making the final touches, and soon a new look of the legendary sports stadium will be finally formed.

Recently all fields were covered with a new grass that was brought by a special company from Volgograd. It took about a week to place a new lawn onto main and training field.

Experts say, it already took root on the training field. In fact, the same can be observed on the main field. Today the lawn on the main field was mowed for the first time.

It’s worth mentioning that the main and training fields of Dinamo Stadium have the same dimensions – 105×68 m. The only difference between is the number of racetracks: 9 on the first field and 4 on the second. Apart from the official opening and closing ceremonies there also will take place in an athletics tournament, so it’s worth mentioning some information about the infrastructure for these starts. Athletes will break and set new records on synthetic racetracks made by Italian company Mondo –  the official equipment supplier for the Olympic Games. As a result, the stadium will be ready to host athletics competitions of the highest level.

New stadium masts are ready for tournaments. Installation of LED-panels is on the finish line. Two large screens will also soon take places designated for them by the reconstruction project. The Olympic bowl will be one of the main attractions of the stadium. The capacity of the Dinamo stadium after reconstruction will be 22 246 spectators. Special visor covers 70-80% of the sports object. More than 800 representatives of the mass media will be able to work in the media area. Also, media area contains 150 commentary booths for radio and television workers.

In one of the interviews, deputy head of production of SU № 94 JSC «Building Trust No. 1» Denis Povod said that the end of reconstruction of the stadium is scheduled for May 31, 2018.

The first official competition on the reconstructed Dinamo stadium will be held on June 22. There will be an international track-and-field match Belarus vs a combined team of athletes from Balkan countries and the Baltic countries and Ukraine.