Kazakhstan: Possibilities for a Kazakh participation in Eurovision 2023 still exist!

Kazakh “Khabar Agency” reports that there are still hopes for a possible participation of Kazakhstan in the European Eurovision Song Contest in the near future.

Speaking at a press conference organized by the Khabar Agency and ORTCOM regarding the participation of Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, producer Zhan Mukanov spoke about the hopes of “Khabar Agency” and Eurovision 2023. In particular, he stated that:

Since Khabar Agency is an official accredited member of the European Union of Radio and Television Stations, there is every possibility of officializing the participation in Eurovision. I really hope, we hope everything goes well.

Khabar Agency has been an associate member of the Broadcasting Union since 2016, which means that in order to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest they will have to be invited to compete by the EBU.

The only broadcaster that has never been invited to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest without being a full member is Australian broadcaster SBS. SBS was invited as part of the 60th edition of the competition, with the EBU highlighting more than 30 years of broadcasting the competition and Australia’s links to the competition.

Kazakhstan has been participating in Junior Eurovision since the 2018 contest where it has been invited by the contest’s Reference Group to participate. Khabar Agency broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest live in Kazakhstan annually between 2010 and 2021, but did not broadcast the 2022 contest due to low viewership and the high cost of broadcasting.