The work of the 43rd General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) was concluded in Baku.

The Session was chaired by EOC President Patrick Hickey and involved the delegations of European National Olympic Committees, International Olympic Committee, ANOCA, the representatives of the Olympic Games' Organizing Committees, Sport Accord and other international sport bodies.

Those in attendance among others were the President of International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, Honorary IOC President Jacques Rogge, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the First Lady of the host country Mehriban Aliyeva who is in charge of Organizing Committee of the inaugural 2015 European Games.

The Azeri capital welcomed Ukrainian delegation including Ravil Safiullin, the vice-president of National Olympic Committee, Nataliya Kovalenko, Ukraine NOC executive director, and Anna Sorokina, head of Ukraine NOC' department, Ukraine's Chief de Mission of Baku-2015.

At opening ceremony, Patrick Hickey handed the prestigious «Order of Merit» Award to Thomas Bach as a tribute to his considerable contribution in developing and promoting Olympic values, productive search for reforms of modern sport and being the only IOC President who have won an Olympic gold medal.

EOC's «Order of Laurel» was awarded to Ukraine's Basketball Federation President, Ukraine's NOC and FIBA Europe Executive Boards' member, Olympic champion Oleksandr Volkov. Mr Volkov's efforts in promoting basket in Ukraine and in Europe were commemorated as well as the organization of U-16 FIBA Europe European Championships in 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The participants of the General Assembly discussed the future of the Olympic Movement and expressed their support for the Olympic Agenda 2020 presented by IOC President Mr Tomas Bach.

The update of the 1st European Games preparations was presented by Baku 2015 Organizing Committee. The Assembly participants have got a short survey of the host city of the future European Games, as well as the city's sport infrastructure and the future venues.

The Organizing Committees of Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018, as well as the bidding cities' teams provided their reports for the General Assembly.