IOC President meets Japanese Prime Minister Abe
Meeting at the official residence of the Japanese Prime Minister in Tokyo, Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach discussed the proposal of the IOC to stage some events of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the area affected by the 2011 tsunami, to the north of Tokyo. President Bach said it would "contribute to the regeneration of that area and send a message of confidence and hope to the people there, as well as showing to the world by 2020 how this regeneration is making progress."
Prime Minister Abe said he strongly welcomed “the idea of offering some sports and events to the devastated areas to help with reconstruction.”
The proposal will now be discussed further by the IOC Executive Board and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to bring forward a concrete proposal.
In addition, Prime Minister Abe welcomed the agreement between the IOC and the Governor of Tokyo to set up a four-party working group to look into cost savings for the Games. He agreed to the participation of the Japanese Government in the working group.
The two leaders also discussed anti-doping reform plans to make the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 “as clean as possible”.
President Bach outlined important proposals about the reform of the anti-doping system to make the fight against doping more efficient and to establish a more robust system, while making the system more independent from sports organisations and from national interests.
The Prime Minister said: “the Japanese Government is convinced that anti-doping is very important, and I support the IOC in its proposals.”
Finally, President Bach congratulated Japan on the best ever result of a Japanese team at the Olympic Games, with the team winning the most number of medals ever – a tally of 41 in total.