French-based multinational energy organisation Suez has been confirmed as the 13th official partner of the Paris 2024 bid to stage the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The agreement takes the total amount raised by Paris 2024 in private-sector funding to more than €26m ($29m).
As well as financial support, Suez will use its expertise to back Paris 2024’s vision for reinvention and renewal in the French capital, and to help promote sustainable practices.
“Suez wishes to lend its expertise, skills and experience to help Paris 2024 get the most out of its city centre resources and employ a collaborative approach that creates a sustainable blueprint in major event bidding,” Suez chief executive Jean-Louis Chaussade said.
Suez joins AccorHotels, BNP Paribas, Caisse des Dépôts, Elior Group, FDJ, JCDecaux, LVMH, La Poste, MAIF, Orange, RATP and Vivendi as top-tier official partners of the bid. Paris 2024 official partners meet as a group with the bid leadership every quarter to share their insights and expertise.
Paris is facing competition from Los Angeles and Budapest in its bid to stage the Games, with Rome’s proposal now seemingly at an end.
Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) president Giovanni Malago this week wrote to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend the capital’s bid. It came after Rome’s city council last month withdrew its support for the bid on the recommendation of Mayor Virginia Raggi.
The IOC will announce the winning bid in September 2017.