President Bach guest of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo - addresses world mayors at climate conference
IOC President Thomas Bach was in Paris on Sunday as a keynote speaker at the C40 Together4Climate conference.
President Bach was a special guest of Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Both leaders addressed the audience of global mayors and business leaders.
For Mayor Hidalgo, "the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are a way to bring something to the people of Paris and to France in general." And she said that, "the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 were a determining factor for Paris to bid for the Olympic Games. The reforms opened the way with more sobre budgets and with sustainability at their heart," she added.
President Bach told the conference: "In the past, bidding for the Olympic Games was like applying for a franchise. We have changed this and transformed the process so that we are now asking the host cities: how can we adapt the Olympic Games to best fit the long-term needs of your city? If you ask our gracious host, Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, I am sure that they can explain to you in much more detail why there is such a strong alignment between the sustainability strategy of their cities and their plans for the Olympic Games," he told the conference.
We are now asking the host cities: how can we adapt the Olympic Games to best fit the long-term needs of your city?
Thomas Bach
IOC PRESIDENT
Earlier, the President met Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo at the Hotel de Ville. The two leaders discussed the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, as well as the cooperation between Paris and Los Angeles, which will organise the Olympic Games in 2028.
Throughout the visit the President was accompanied by the President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and lOC Member, Tony Estanguet, and IOC Member in France Guy Drut.