Geneva, Sep 16 (IANS): The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday announced that five cities were competing to host the Olympic Games 2024 after submitting their applications to the global body within the stipulated deadline.

The five candidate cities are Budapest (Hungary), Hamburg (Germany), Los Angeles (United States), Paris (France), and Rome (Italy), reports Xinhua.

"We are welcoming five outstanding and highly qualified candidate cities," said IOC president Thomas Bach.

"In the new invitation process, the IOC learnt that all the candidates are embracing Olympic Agenda 2020 from their respective vision for the future of their city. Sustainability and legacy are the cornerstones of each candidature," Bach added.

The Olympic Agenda 2020 offers the candidate cities the opportunity to reduce costs related to the candidature process. For instance, the number of presentations to be made by the cities has been reduced from nine to three.

In addition, IOC is now covering the travel costs and accommodation of a number of delegates to the presentations made to the IOC, as well as costs related to the visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission.

IOC will contribute S1.7 billion in cash and services to the organising committee for the Olympic Games 2024.

In keeping with its commitment to good governance, transparency and ethics, following Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC on Wednesday published all the documents related to the candidature, marking the first time that the full package of documentation has been made public at the very outset of the process.

IOC said it will continue to work in close collaboration with each candidate city to provide them with the best possible services and assistance in the lead-up to the election, by the full IOC membership, of the host city at the 130th IOC Session in Lima, Peru in 2017.