The visit comes as the RIOU helps provide a development programme to train officials from Belarus in the build-up to Minsk hosting the 2019 European Games.

Those present included Dmitry Dovgalenok, head of monitoring and development of Olympic sports, and Lyudmila Fokeeva, the Permanent Commission on Culture, Olympic Education and Development member.

"The parties discussed the possibility of tapping existing RIOU projects to improve the skills of people in the field of physical education and sports in the Republic of Belarus, including those who will be involved in the preparations and staging of the European Games in 2019," a statement posted on the European Olympic Committees (EOC) website explained.

Minsk was awarded the continental-wide event at last year's EOC General Assembly held in the capital city.

Russia had previously been billed as the EOC's "preferred choice" for the event, which is following the inaugural European Games held in Baku in 2015.

RIOU, founded in 2009, is billed as the world’s "first university dedicated to sports business education", offering programmes "infused with Olympic values and experiences".

Their activities concentrate on training specialists in sports management for the Russian and international sports industry, and the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.

The NOC RB delegation also toured the university campus in the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic coastal resort and received a lecture by Jon Tibbs, the founder and chief executive of sports consultancy JTA.

JTA also act as communications consultants for both the RIOU and the EOC.