BAKU, Azerbaijan (Reuters) -- Azerbaijan will bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday.

"Everyone in the world knows Azerbaijan as a sporting nation," Aliyev, who also heads the country's national Olympic committee (AOC), was quoted as saying by local media following the AOC's executive board meeting on Tuesday.

"We will do everything possible to succeed with our 2016 bid but if not, we hope to bid again in 2020."

Azerbaijan, the oil-rich country by the Caspian Sea, has never hosted a major world championship since gaining independence following the Soviet break-up at the end of 1991.

The United States, Italy, India, Japan, Brazil and Spain have also expressed an interest in staging the Summer Games in 2016, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) planning to choose the host city in 2009.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.