Dear friends!
Dear contestants, guests, colleagues and spectators!
I am happy to welcome you at our contest.
As you are aware, last year witnessed the first anniversary contest - we organized the \"New Wave\" for the fifth time. How quick time passes! Each of the contestants survives in our memories! When we began organizing the contest in 2002 it was impossible to imagine how popular the \"New Wave\" would become. The contest has become a real festival and a long-awaited event. It\'s a special world in our hectic lives; it is a very beautiful, versatile world filled with events, and it leaves pleasant recollections for the years to come.
A great number of people come to the contest from different countries of the world each year.
The inexpressible sensation of meeting friends and colleagues in the streets of Jurmala at any time is familiar to many people. Jurmala cannot be called a strange city: it has become really near and dear to us!
Contestants from many countries of the world have an opportunity to show their talent at the contest. All the application forms sent to the Organizing Committee total 25000. I am not going to count the percentage of it against the world\'s population J! However I need to admit that our contest interests and gives hope to millions of people and it proves the popularity and high level of the contest.
The results of our work are obvious, as you know. Many contestants of the \"New Wave\" held pride of places at the \"Eurovision\" contest. It is not really important if you get the fifth or the fifteenth place at the final of the contest. The recognition of your talent by professional jury, TV viewers of different countries of the world is an important moment of your biography.
This year sees very good, talented contestants, each of whom has something special. The Organizing Committee which received over 8 000 applications from 37 countries of the world had an incredibly difficult task to select the most worthy contestants. A year of hard work was spent on it.
18 really talented contestants from 14 countries of the world are to perform at the contest this year. I want to wish victory to each of the finalists! And I want to wish good mood and great impressions for the whole year to all the guests of our contest!