Lied van Liedjes 34

This was the thirty-fourth Lied van Liedjes to be held. The contest would be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, following their victory at the previous contest with winning song, "Tired of Life" by Em Beihold. the Semi-Finals would occur on Tuesday 24th June 2003 and Thursday 26th June 2003. The Grand Final would take place on Saturday 28th June 2003.

Lucia Danielsen returned as executive producer, alongside the director Eila Kekkonen. The coordinator was chosen as head of the Azeri delegation, Liana Başirlu. Baku was confirmed as the host city a week after the contest began preparations.

39 countries would participate in the contest. This would be down from 43 in the previous contest. Russia, and Serbia and Montenegro would return to the contest whilst Luxembourg, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Israel and Ireland all withdrew for various reasons.

Pot Draw
Italics indicate a returning country.

Semi Final 1
and would vote in this Semi Final. It took place on Tuesday 24th June 2003.

Semi Final 2
,, and would vote in this Semi-Final. It took place on Thursday 22nd May 2003.

Non-participation due to financial problems

 * - Broadcaster cited financial difficulties and lack of desire to take part in any upcoming contests.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and political problems with the broadcaster.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and lack of other Arab nations in the contest.
 * - Cited financial issues and long travel times. Expressed interest if their participation fee were paid by a foreign nation.

Non-participation due to protest

 * - New delegation leadership refused to apply in protest.
 * - New delegation leadership refused to apply in protest.

Non-participation due to lack of interest/bad results

 * - Originally announced they would return in the 32nd edition, but later withdrew. They expressed interest in returning in the following edition.

Non-participation due to unknown/other reasons

 * - Suspended by the Liedjes company for restricting Faroe Islands and Greenland participation in the contest. This suspension would last one edition.
 * - Mentioned a possible return to the contest in the future, but was uninterested as of now.
 * - Northern Ireland made a pact with the Irish broadcaster to send a join entry for this edition.

Yet to debut

 * - Insufficient financial issues, and political issues surrounding the broadcaster.
 * - Citing long travel times and lack of interest in the population but have expressed interest in debuting in the future.
 * - Citing long travel times and lack of interest in the population but have expressed interest in debuting in the future.
 * - Lack of interest in the population or the broadcaster, but have expressed interest previously and have dedicated fanbases