Latvijas Televīzija ( LTV ) chose the Skonto Hall as the venue after conducting a bidding process among several cities and venues in Latvia . The hosts for the contest were the previous year 's winner Marie N and former Latvian representative at the 2000 contest , Renārs Kaupers , who competed in the contest as part of the band Brainstorm . The design of the contest was built around the theme " Magical rendez-vous " , which represented the meeting of the various European nations coming to Latvia and encountering Latvia 's versatile landscapes . Twenty-six countries participated , which saw the return of Iceland , Ireland , Netherlands , Norway and Poland after having been relegated from competing the previous year , Portugal returning to the contest after withdrawing the previous year , while Ukraine participated in the contest for the first time . Denmark , Finland , Lithuania , Macedonia and Switzerland were required to withdraw due to their poor results in the 2002 contest
Latvian representative at the 2000 contest
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000
Eurovision Song Contest 2003