DUSHANBE, September 13, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan will take appropriate efforts to host the “Five Stars: Intervision” contest at proper level, Abdughaffor Abdujabborov, an official with the Ministry of Culture (MoC), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.  

According to him, the organizing committee for holding the contest will be set up in the near future and it will be headed by one of vice-premiers.  

Abdujabborov noted that representatives of Russia’s TV Channel One  and members of the superior organizing committee for the contest are expected to arrive in Tajikistan within a month to chose suitable place for holding the contest.  

He expressed confidence that the Tajik side will fulfill all requirements of the contest organizer because “holding of such a contest is of significant importance for Tajikistan.”  “They will bring all necessary technical equipment with them, while the rest we will provide here,” said the MoC official, “I believe we will be able to organize everything at high level.”   

At least representatives from 10 countries will participate in the “Five Stars: Intervision” contest in Dushanbe.  

We will recall that the previous contest was held in Sochi, Russia on August 28-30 and a 19-year-old Tajik singer Tahmina Niyozova won the contest grand prize.   

The Sochi contest was the fourth “Five Stars: Intervision” organized by Russia’s TV Channel One.  This year, the contest''s format has been changed slightly – starting from 2008 this song contest is open not only for Russian contestants but also for participants from other CIS states.  Representatives of eleven countries, including Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine participated in the Sochi contest, and the winner of the competition was announced via short SMS voting.   

Based on the results of the SMS voting, the jury awarded the grand prize to Tahmina Niyozova.  Since Tajikistan’s contestant won this year’s competition, the next contest will be held in Tajikistan in 2009.