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Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 will be hosted by a world-famous star in Azerbaijan

10 February 2009 13:34 (UTC +04:00)

Youth and Sport Ministry told APA that the Heydar Aliev Sports and Concert Complex (SCC) in Baku with the seating capacity of 7800 people has been designated as the Contest venue. This news was officially confirmed by European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Monday the 2nd of February.

Azerbaijanâ€™s Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Ragimov took a stance on Azerbaijanâ€™s hosting Eurovision Dance Contest 2009.
â€œWe are happy to welcome a competition of this stature in our country! It is an honor for us to host the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009. Our ministry will lend all necessary support to Ictimai Television, which will be in charge of organizing this event, in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union. We will spare no effort to elevate the Eurovision Dance Contest to a completely new quality level,â€ he said.

Ismayil Omarov, Ictimai Director General expressed his gratitude to European Broadcasting Union for its confidence in Azerbaijan.
â€œFor my part, I would like to assure all members of the EBU that we will do everything to make this event spectacular and unforgettable for all of its participants and certainly for millions of European TV viewers,â€ he said.

The Azerbaijani Dance Sport Federation will also be actively involved in the organization of the Contest, alongside Ictimai Television and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports. â€œWe were pleased with the EBUâ€™s clear and constructive approach to the Contest organization already at the time of project presentations in December of last year in Geneva,â€ said Murad Ragimov, head of the Azerbaijani Dance Sport Federation. â€œI am convinced that this cooperation will bear a fruitful result, namely a high-quality spectacular show.â€

The general contractor in the organization of the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 will be the Euromedia & Luxen group of companies. The record of the companies includes the co-production of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, which took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, the organization of all European concert tours and promotion campaigns of Ruslana, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, as well as the organization of the debut of Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008. Euromedia company is the exclusive agent for the marketing of specific European Broadcasting Union’s projects in the Balkan Region, Central-Eastern Europe and CIS.

The organizers of the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 have already announced some novelties that will happen in the Contest next September.

Increase in the number of participating countries is one of the priority tasks that the organizers of the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 set for themselves.

The host â€“ a world-famous star. The Contest will be hosted by a world-famous star. Ictimai Television is not disclosing as of yet who of the international celebrities it intends to approach with this offer.
The organizers have already planned a big show broadcast live across Europe on the eve of the Contest. This additional event will be available for all Eurovision Dance Contest broadcasters