The Mayor of Kyiv Mr. Vitali Klitchsko, chaired a special meeting along with the 2017 Eurovision Organizing Comittee in Kyiv today, in order to discuss the preparations and organization of the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

The City of Kyiv is all set to embrace Eurovision come May and welcome delegations, fans and journalists from 40 odd countries.

The  main task of Kyiv City Authorities is to prepare the infrastructure for the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in order to showcase Kyiv as an attractive city, thus holding the contest at the highest level. This was stated by the Mayor of Kyiv Mr. Vitali Klitschko during a special meeting today where the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Organzing Committee discussed their plans for upcoming contest.

Mr Klitchsko says:

We understand that a competition of this magnitude entails and requires a  very responsible mission. This is the image of not only Kyiv but also of our country. The time we have left is not much, and there is much work to do. Therefore we can’t hesitate.

Kyiv Mayor said that according to preliminary estimates 20,000 visitors are expected to visit the Ukrainian capital during the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

Mr. Klitchsko adds:

Our task is to to prepare the infrastructure so that the city looks attractive. So when all the guests who will arrive in Kyiv for Eurovision will have a positive experience and emotion of our city. And I want to emphasize that safety is one of the key factors of preparation for the competition

He noted that the city authorities will focus on the repairing roads, infrastructure arrangements around the the Eurovision venue IEC..The city also plans to work and rearrange the Nikolsko-Sloboda embankment.

Vitali Klitschko went on to stress that  one of the main  tasks of local authorities was to showcase the best of Kyiv and Ukraine to its visitors next May, everyone who will come to Kyiv for Eurovision will be an ambassador of the Ukrainian capital and country after experiencing and visiting the city, thus taking back positive feedback, emotions and memories to their native countries.

The Mayor of  Kyiv added:

Eurovision2017  will be a boost for the development of our city’s tourism infrastructure of our city.

The following key points were disscussed during today’s meeting: the development plan of measures for organizing and hosting the 2017 ESC in Kyiv, financial support for training and hosting the contest, the security, landscaping of the adjacent locations of the official ESC venues and hotspots, developing  a detailed schedule for the preparation of the ESC 2017 venue and press center, the schedule and operation of official ESC 2017 events and locations, transport  organization during ESC, provision of  transport for the official delegations and guests and training of the tourism infrastructure and sector.

The mayor stressed that meetings on the 2017 ESC preparations will be held several times a month in order to monitor the implementation of  the required tasks.

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 9, 11 and 13 May at the IEC in Kyiv, Ukraine.