Beijing, Aug 5 (IANS) Leaders of some countries and international organisations have sent messages to China congratulating Beijing on its successful bid to host the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

In a congratulatory message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Beijing’s winning of the bid once again shows China’s huge development potential. Nazarbayev believed that China will hold a successful, high-standard 2022 Winter Games and carry forward the Olympic spirit further, reports Xinhua.

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov also sent a congratulatory message to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, saying Kazakhstan is willing to work with China to make contributions to the development of the Olympic movement.

In his message to Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin believed that Beijing will hold excellent 2022 Winter Olympics just as it did in the 2008 Summer Games. He said that Russia will offer full assistance to China in the preparation for the Games.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also sent a message to his Chinese counterpart to congratulate Beijing on winning the bid to host the 2022 Winter Games.

In addition, leaders of many other countries and international organisations have, in various ways, expressed congratulations to China’s successful bid.

Beijing, together with Zhangjiakou, a city in northern China’s Hebei province, won 44 nods against rival Almaty’s 40 in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to host the 2022 Olympics and Paralympics.