Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers

Berlin, Germany - 14-15 April 2011

  • 14 Apr. 2011 - 15 Apr. 2011
  • |
  • Press Release (2011) 029
  • Issued on 14 Mar. 2011
  • |
  • Last updated: 14 Mar. 2011 15:16

1. Information

Ministers of Foreign Affairs will hold meetings in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 April 2011, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General, His Excellency Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, His Excellency Mr Guido Westerwelle will host the meetings.

2. Programme and pools

The detailed programme will be given to media representatives in the accreditation office when they collect their media pass.

The programme will include limited access by selected visual media to pooled events and open access to non-pooled events, as well as the retransmission of media events to the press working area and TV/Radio editing booths. Information about the media programmes of individual attending ministers should be sought directly from national Delegation(s). A list of allied press officers will be available in the media centre.

The initial remarks of the various NATO meetings will be broadcast live on the internal closed-circuit television system and can be viewed in the press working area. Audiovisual media representatives who wish to cover the initial remarks from inside the Council room may make a written request for a pool card to the NATO media coordinator (e-mail address given at the end of this advisory). No confirmation will be sent. Pool cards for restricted-access events will be given to a small number of cameramen and photographers drawn from among those who submit an accreditation request on time; these will be distributed at the Media Centre information desk from 10:00 a.m. on 14 April 2011.

When a media representative accepts a NATO pool position it is with the strict understanding, in accordance with international practice, that the act of accepting the accreditation to be in a NATO pool implies explicit and unconditional agreement by that media representative that he/she will share immediately and upon request with other media accredited to the NATO event all information collected, and/or all material produced, while in that pool. It also implies explicit agreement that the media representative will share the material with no impediment from their own news organization, at no charge to other journalists and with no restriction on the use of the material for legitimate news purposes. Media representatives can only accept the pool accreditation if they have the explicit backing of their employer to all of the conditions on providing pool material as the basis of accepting the pool position.

Photographers seeking pool photo materials should first contact the Wire service photo agency of which they are a member or client. Media representatives and the news organizations that employ them who accept any material from a pool accept it with the explicit and strict understanding that it must be identified as pool material any time it is used, that it can be used only for legitimate news purposes and that the receiving party has no right to sell pool material or otherwise profit from it.

The NATO photographers and cameramen will post the audiovisual sequences of all the media events on the NATO website; the sequences can also be obtained from the TV & Radio Unitand/or the NATO Internet Television Channel (see NATO Media Coordinator’s contact details below).

3. Venues

The German Federal Foreign Office Building (Werderscher Markt 1, 10117 Berlin) is the venue for the ministerial meetings. The Media Centre and the Media Accreditation Office will be located at the Deutsche Telekom Building located close to the Foreign Ministry building.

4. Accreditation and security checks

All media representatives wishing to cover the ministerial meetings need to request accreditation. Applications for accreditation can only be made electronically on-line via internet by clicking on the following link: https://my.hq.nato.int/

Applications for accreditation should be made no later than 12h00 GMT on Monday 11 April 2011. Applications received after that date may encounter delay or be rejected. Late applications will not be taken into consideration for the pools. Media representatives who have submitted the request for accreditation via the internet are encouraged to bring a print-out of the request confirmation.

The usual NATO accreditation procedures shall be applicable to this meeting. The accreditation process requires interested media representatives to create a user name and password and to provide a digital picture (3.5 x 4.5 cm passport-size photo, JPEG format).

Access to the Media Centre requires a media pass issued at the Accreditation Office. Media passes will not be mailed to applicants and must be picked up in person at the Media Accreditation Office upon presentation of a valid I.D. card or passport and a valid press card (or letter of accreditation from a recognized media organization).

Passes must be worn visibly at all times and secondary identification may always be asked for by security personnel. Media representatives are informed that security personnel will examine and test equipment and personal effects carried onto the site, and they are advised to arrive with sufficient lead time to clear security checks. Television and radio broadcasters, wire services and photo agencies bringing bulky equipment are particularly urged to bring it into the Media Centre on Wednesday, 13 April 2011.

5. Communications with attending media representatives

In a bid to enhance our communications effort during the event with media representatives, the cell phone numbers of people having received a media pass will be used by the hosts to inform of important scheduling changes and other news as appropriate. The phone numbers will not be used collectively other than by NATO after the event.

6. Hours of operation

These opening hours are subject to change as the official programme is finalised and any amendments will be notified via the NATO website, http://www.nato.int/.

 

Accreditation Office

Media Centre

Wed 13 April

13:00 – 19:30

13:00 – 20:00

Thu 14 April

07:00 – 20:00

7:00 – no closure overnight

Fri 15 April

07:00 – 13:00

Open to end of operations

7. Broadcasting

The host nation, assisted by Eurovision Special Events is setting up eight television and ten radio editing booths located in the Media Centre. A TV studio equipped for live transmissions and a radio interview room are available upon booking reaching the German Media Coordinator (see below) no later than close of business on 12 April 2011. Stand-up positions will also be made available.

The Host Broadcaster, ARD, will provide live coverage of arrivals of delegations, the public sessions of all meetings, and major international news conferences. ARD will provide the signal and technical support, with the assistance of Eurovision Special Events.

For enquiries or to book a stand up position or a working space in the broadcasting centre, please contact:

Werner Melzer, ARD Hauptstadtstudio
Telephone: +49.30.22.88.1700
Email: werner.melzer@ard-hauptstadtstudio.de

Satellite uplink trucks and O.B. vans will be parked nearby the media centre. For any question on this subject please contact the German media coordinator.

8. Communications

Laptop computers will need to be equipped with RJ 45 plugs in order to be able to connect to the LAN high-speed communication network in the Media Centre. In addition, ISDN lines will be available for radio transmissions, both in the media working area and in the radio editing booths.

Media representatives are advised to check if they need to use a Euro ISDN standard adaptor. Electricity supply in Germany is at 220 volts and plugs have two pins.

9. Accommodation

Media representatives are invited to make their own hotel arrangements. Hotels can be found on the following webpage: http://www.berlin.de/international/accomodation/hotel/search/index.en.php

10. Media Transport

There is no organised transport for the media. The Media Centre is accessible by public transport, including taxi cabs. To get to the media centre from Airport Tegel : take the bus (X9) heading towards “Zoologischer Garten” and stop at “Ernst-Reuter-Platz”, from which you may take the underground train line U2 direction Pankow until ”Stadtmitte”.

To reach the media centre when arriving from Airport Schoenefeld, walk to the train station “Flughafen Schoenefeld”, take line 46 direction “Westend” until “Tempelhof”. Change to the underground train line U6 direction “Alt-Tegel” until the stop “Stadtmitte”.

To reach the media centre when arriving by rail at the main station, take the train line S7, direction “Ahrensfelde” until “Alexanderplatz”, then change to the underground train line U2 Direction “Theodor-Heuss-Platz” or “Olympiastadion” or “Ruhleben”, until train stop “Stadtmitte”.

11. Access to the Media Centre and parking

Media will have access to the Media Centre by public transport. There will be a taxi drop-off point near the entrance. The media centre is accessible by car, however, no parking will be available.

12. Enquiries

Mr. Uwe KOPPEL
German Media Coordinator

Telephone: +49 30 5000 4073
Fax: + 4930 5000 54073
E-mail: 013-team@diplo.de

Mr. Damien ARNAUD
NATO Media Coordinator
Tel: +32 2 707 50 38
Fax: +32 2 707 13 99
E-mail: press-at-Berlin@hq.nato.int