Today, March 23, from 10.30 till 12.00, in the Arena entertainment complex there was held a press conference devoted to the results of the Heads of Delegations meeting of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest participating countries and to the process of preparation to the Contest. Svante Stockselius, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Executive Supervisor on the Eurovision Song Contest issues, while answering the questions of the journalists, outlined that the EBU representatives and the heads of delegations of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest participating countries were agreeably impressed by the level of the Contest preparation and believed that this year the Contest would be held on the highest level. He assured as well that disqualification did not threaten the Greenjolly band and that the organizers were absolutely satisfied with the remade lyrics of the song, which would be presented by the Ukrainian participant; to the question about plagiarism Mr. Stockselius replied that indeed there had been three applications of that nature (concerning the participants from F.Y.R. Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Latvia), however the EBU had not had any basis to sustain that applications. Taras Stetskiv, the National Television Company of Ukraine President, in his speech informed the journalists that he, as well as the European guests, highly appreciated the level of the Eurovision-2005 preparation, which was performed by the team of the professionals with Pavlo Grytsak at the head; Mr. Stetskiv also refuted the recent information concerning his prejudice in the process of choice of the technical executors for the Eurovision-2005 preparation. He informed that the preparation process had started only in the mid-February and that was the reason of the simplification of the tender procedures. "If we had hold the tender as it is required, in the 90-day term, we would have defined the winner after the Contest finishing", - commented the accusations Mr. Stetskiv. It was also reported that almost all the issues, which were delaying the work, had been solved, namely the financing issues; the NTU Head stated about the completion of the contract regarding the rent of the Palace of Sports to the amount which contents the NTU and which is the ordinary amount paid by the concert organizers for the rent of this premises. Moreover, it was reported that in the nearest time the government would simplify the visa procedure for citizens of the European Union. Pavlo Grytsak, the National Television Company of Ukraine Vice-president and 2005 Eurovision Song Contest Executive Producer, answered questions concerning the pricing of the Kyiv hotels. During the Heads of Delegations meeting he repeatedly received the claims from the foreign guests regarding the sudden and artificial price increase at Kyiv hotels during the period of hosting the Contest. "The NTU tries to influence the hotels and persuade them not to crave for super-profits and not to damage the image of Ukraine. We work at this issue together with Kyiv municipal authorities". - emphasized Grytsak. The Radisson Sas hotel was given as an example; this hotel artificially and groundlessly raised the price for its services, although the declared price of accommodation there had been higher than in the Radisson network hotels in the EU. Mr. Grytsak assured that with the help of the Kyiv City State Administration this problem would be solved in the nearest future. DJ Pasha, one of the hosts of the forthcoming show, shared his impressions of the preparation process for the Contest. He said that it was of a great honour and very pleasant to be involved in this project, and he once more marked a highly professional team working at this year ESC. Then the floor was taken by international sponsors of the ESC-2005. Natalia Konovalova, PR Manager of the Nemiroff company, told about the start of the international journalists contest called the Golden Fern, and Zhanna Revnova, the Kyivstar representative, presented a special communication program "Ukraine is the Heart of Europe", which would take place on Khreshchatyk street. The Kyivstar impressed everyone present at the press conference by their gift - a real Carpathian trembita, which would be presented to the participating country performing in the Semifinal under No. 1. It is already known that this year Austria will have to "break the ice". Mykhailo Ilko, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest Creative Director, presented his creative concept of the ESC-2005, design for printed materials, tickets, stage, videos etc. Video presentation had lasted about 20 minutes and was finished by journalists' applause. In the end, Oles Sanin, Director of promotional videos for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, took the floor. He presented his works on the screen, gave a brief outline of their message and concept. There will be 50 videos, and the shooting will be continued as soon as snow comes off. This presentation also gave rise to a sincere applause of the audience.

Best regards,

Press Service

For the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest

Contact person: Marko Markovic

Tel: +38 067 404 25 02

E-mail: markom@ntu.com.ua