The guests of the Euro 2012 European Football Championship have seen that Ukraine is a modern European state, and this is the main achievement of the tournament, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
“Of course, during the championship we’ve made sure that fans from
all countries of the world had a great time. They could see that Ukraine
is a modern European country and that the people are very friendly
here. That was the main achievement of Euro 2012,” Yanukovych said at a
meeting with President of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon in Kyiv on Monday.
The head of state also said that it was impossible to calculate the economic effect of the Euro 2012 championship today.
“I can say for sure, it was an investment into the future,” he said.
In turn, the president of Tajikistan praised the high level of
organization of the championship in Ukraine, in particular in the
spheres of security, service, and culture of fans.
“I had the opportunity to compare what I saw six months ago [during
his official visit to Ukraine] and what you have now. We’ve discussed
this with the colleagues yesterday. They shared my opinion that Ukraine
demonstrated the very high level of organization and mobility of a
really developed country that can host even more than international
sports events,” he said.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the president of
Tajikistan asked Yanukovych whether he had a good sleep after the
championship’s final match and the Ukrainian president said that he was
“well trained.”
Rahmon also invited Yanukovych to make an official visit to Tajikistan at any time.
