According to BelTA, an Organising Committee has been set up by Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov to prepare for the 47th edition of the annual event.

It will be led by Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Zharko and has been instructed to develop and approve an action plan within the next three months.

BelTA reports that the Organising Committee, if needed, can involve several parties in the preparations, including heads and specialists of Government bodies and other state organisations.

Minsk City Hall and the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus (NOC RB) are among the others that can be consulted.

Minsk was confirmed as host of the 2019 European Games during the 2016 EOC General Assembly in the city last October.

Plans to include archery and weightlifting on the programme for the Games were discussed on Friday (May 12) as part of the EOC Coordination Commission's visit to Minsk.

The Commission held meetings with Andrei Astashevich, vice-president of the NOC RB, and Belarus' Sport and Tourism Minister Alexander Shamko, according to BelTA.

Leading the EOC delegation is Coordination Commission head Spyros Capralos, who was appointed to the position in January.

Capralos, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, has been joined by the Commission's deputy chairman Zlatko Mateša, who confirmed plans to include archery and weightlifting in the sporting programme.

Mateša is the head of the Croatian Olympic Committee and a former Prime Minister of Croatia, which is scheduled to host this year's EOC General Assembly in Zagreb from November 24 to 25.

The EOC Coordination Commission has also inspected venues to be used for the European Games, including the Dinamo Stadium, Minsk Sports Palace and the Football Arena, which has been designated as the television broadcasting centre.

Additionally, it assessed the Athletes' Village, which is expected to house 4,000 athletes. 

"Now we feel more confident that the European Games 2019 will be magnificent," Capralos said after the visit.

"Top-level arenas were demonstrated to us. 

"The Dinamo Stadium is not ready yet, but we’ve seen a large number of people working there and looked through the schemes and drawings. 

"We believe it will be the great venue."

Mateša said the EOC Coordination Commission was impressed with what it had seen and revealed it was informed there will be 15 sports on the programme. 

"Minsk possess the infrastructure suitable for hosting the European Games," he added. 

"We’re glad the Government and the NOC of Belarus support the idea of holding this tournament. 

"Together we do the same business, discuss problems and help one another. 

"We’re sure these multi-sport competitions will be organised on the highest level."

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, meanwhile, has sanctioned the creation of a Minsk 2019 directorate, which will work in close cooperation with the Government and the Organising Committee on the arrangements for and staging of the European Games.

"Upon the Presidential Decree, the directorate is awarded tax, customs and other preferences in order to cut budgetary expenditures," the NOC RB says on its website. 

"There is a possibility of allowing the sponsors to provide gratuity aid for the directorate’s needs without specifying goods and services in contracts being freed from rendering state statistical report on the pro bono aid provided.

"The Decree regulates the manner in which the directorate works, defines tasks, functions and powers of the body and its responsible officials, and manages property-building issues."