Beijing officially raised the curtain for the preparation of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Tuesday, as the capital hosted the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 Orientation Seminar.

Led by IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi, a 12-member IOC delegation conducted the seminar. This is the first IOC meeting with the Beijing organizers since Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"It is a very important milestone," said Dubi. "It's really the first step to building two things - one, a very powerful relationship between all of us, and second, to establish foundations to start the actual work of preparation."

Dubi said the next phase for Beijing is to form the organizing committee, so the two sides can start to work together.

On July 31, Beijing, with co-host Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei province, edged out Almaty, Kazakhstan, to win the right to host the Games. According to the host city contract, Beijing has to establish the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee by next month.

Dubi expressed confidence in the Beijing organizers to deliver a successful Olympic Games, and cited the good performances of home athletes as part of a successful Olympic Games.

"It's good to see the traditional icons shining in the sports but to have local athletes is tremendously important," he said. "I'm very confident you would do this."

As promised by Beijing during the bidding, the Winter Games will lead 300 million people in the northern part of the country to participate in winter sports. For competitive sports, the sports authority has promised to invest $30 million in government funds to start cultivating sports that the country hasn't developed yet and to support those niche ones in which they are lagging.

During the two-day seminar, the visiting IOC group will meet their Chinese counterparts and exchange views with them on a number of topics, including the opportunities for Beijing, the key Games deliverables and Games management.

"The IOC delegation's visit will deepen Beijing's understanding of how to organize a successful 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and lay good foundations for the organizing committee's work over the next seven years," said Wang Anshun, mayor of Beijing.

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(China Daily 11/04/2015 page4)