French authorities expect about 120 heads of State and/or Government on the occasion of the opening of the Olympic Games of Paris on July 26, which should set a record and give rise to intense diplomatic activity.
Sources from the French Foreign Ministry estimate that there will also be about 160 ministers, especially Sports, in an unprecedented event in the history of the Olympic Games due to the number of high-level delegations.
Invitations to this ceremony are not issued by the host country of the Games.in this case by France, but by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) including the national Olympic committees.
In any case, the French president, Emmanuel Macron will meet the leaders present, hours before the Olympic parade along the Seine River with the athletesat the Elysée Palace, in a formal ceremony that will be the occasion for more or less informal interviews.
Organizers expect “a lot of bilateral meetings” there and Macron will take the opportunity to hold some of them.
The day before, the French president will also host a summit organized with the IOC on the future of sport in a more sustainable world, particularly focused on youth.
While it is too early to know how many delegations will attend that summit, which will likely take place at the Louvre, The attendance of heads of international organizations is scheduledincluding some from the field of sports, as well as some NGOs.
French diplomatic sources stressed the “audacity” involved, among others in terms of security, in organizing the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. along the Seine that runs through the center of Paris, for the first time outside a stadium.
It is expected that there will be 320,000 spectators on the banks of the river and in the adjacent streets and buildings.where an unprecedented security apparatus will be deployed, which includes 45,000 members of the French security forces and 24,000 private agents, in addition to 18,000 mobilized soldiers.
During these Olympic Games, France will have the help of about 45 countriesthe European majority, where 1,100 professionals will arrive (a figure that may evolve) for the specific reinforcement of this security device.
The presence of police from other countries at sporting competitions or other types of events (such as tourist rallies) is common to form patrols accompanied by French agents, which ultimately authorized to intervene with force.
In this case, there are requests in the French to have more teams of sniffer dogs that are experts in detecting explosives and their handlers.
Regarding media coverage, there are approximately 30,000 recognized professionalsto which will be added about 6,000 non-accredited journalists, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who will also cover information about the Olympic Games in France.
France expects around 1.6 million foreign visitors to the Olympics, which will make up about 10% of the total. The authorities have put in place a special device to facilitate the issuance of visas for countries that need them.
Source: La Verdad
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