On February 1st, this Saturday, Olexandr Ponomaryov (yes, this should be the official, correct way to spell his name) will perform one of his hit songs Vin chekaye na nei (He is waiting for her) at the Latvian national final Eirodziesma 2003 in Ventspils, where he has been invited as a guest star. The other guest to appear on stage in Ventspils will be the Polish performer Ich Troje, winner of the Polish national final.

NTU, the Ukrainian, is ready to send an official invitation to Olexandr Ponomaryov to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. It has been a public knowledge for a considerable time, however, that Ponomaryov, who has been chosen 7-times as Ukraine�s best singer, shall sing for his country in Latvia this year, and the NTU launched its Eurovision preparation campaign about a month ago. At the same time, the song that Ponomaryov will sing in Riga is not yet known and will be selected internally.

Today we published that Lior Narkis will also perform as guest star during the Latvian final, which has been confirmed by several Israeli newspapers and other Eurovision Song Contest websites. Yet, it is still unclear whether the Israeli entrant will be able to perform in Latvia this weekend. In the meantime it is expected the Latvian national final will be broadcasted online, although no final decision has been made yet. Our Latvian editor Aija Medinika will be present!