Eurovision 2017 to take place in Kyiv
KYIV. Sept 9 (Interfax) - Kyiv will host the Eurovision international song contest in 2017, the Ukrainian organizing committee said.
The decision was announced in Kyiv on Friday, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"Kyiv was elected as the city hosting the Eurovision 2017. As the result of the voting, 19 votes went to Kyiv, two to Odesa and one abstained. The venue of the contest will be International Exhibition Centre on the left bank [of the Dnipro River]," Director General of the National Television Company of Ukraine Zurab Alasania said, announcing the decision of the contest's organizing committee.
Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevhen Nyschuk added that financial guarantees were an important factor in selecting the city to host the contest.
As reported, Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk were shortlisted as the potential hosts for Eurovision 2017 and the European Broadcasting Union agreed to hold the contest in any of its cities.
Ukraine won the right to host Eurovision 2017 after the victory of singer Jamala in the contest in Sweden in May 2016.