Meeting of Defence Ministers

Brussels, 24-25 October 2019

  • 24 Oct. 2019 - 25 Oct. 2019
  • |
  • Press Release (2019) 097
  • Issued on 02 Oct. 2019
  • |
  • Last updated: 02 Oct. 2019 10:50

GENERAL

  1. Meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Defence Ministers will be held at the NATO Headquarters on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 October 2019. All information about these meetings will be on the NATO website. This media advisory marks the opening of online registration for accreditation (see below).
  2. The meetings will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

PROGRAMME

  1. The media programme will be available online closer to the event and provided to media representatives in the media centre. The meetings will start on Thursday 24 October 2019 in the afternoon and will end on Friday 25 October in the afternoon. Pre-ministerial events (e.g. Secretary General’s pre-ministerial press conference) will take place on Wednesday 23 October 2019; more details will be announced at a later date.
  2. Media representatives not permanently accredited with NATO need to seek accreditation (detailed procedure outlined below).
  3. The Accreditation Office, where badges can be picked up, will be located at the Main Entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110 Brussels. The opening hours are provided below.
  4. Information about individual ministers’ media programmes should be sought directly from the national delegation(s) concerned. A list of NATO delegation press officers is available from the Press & Media Section and upon accreditation.

MEDIA ACCESS AND POOLS

  1. Access is unrestricted to press conferences of the NATO Secretary General. Briefings by delegation officials may be by invitation only. Open delegation events are announced on CCTV.
  2. Access to meeting openings and the official portrait is restricted by pool only. Pool cards will be given to a small number of videographers and photographers drawn from among those who submit an accreditation request on time.  The pool cards will be distributed on the first floor of the Public Square of NATO HQ. More details about timings will be provided in the media programme. Journalists requesting late accreditation will not be given access to pools.
  3. Audiovisual media representatives who wish to cover the opening remarks from inside the Council room may make a written request for a pool card to the e-mail address given at the end of this advisory. No confirmation will be sent.
  4. When a media representative accepts a NATO pool position he/she must share immediately all information and material collected while in the pool with any accredited media that request it. The media representative in the pool will share the material at no charge and with no restriction on the use of the material for news purposes.
  5. Media representatives can only accept the pool accreditation if they have the agreement of their employer to all of the conditions on providing pool material listed above.
  6. Media organisations that want pooled images should first contact the wire service / photo agency of which they are a member / client. Media representatives and news organisations must identify that it is pooled material every time it is used. Pooled material can only be used for legitimate news purposes and it cannot be sold.
  7. The NATO photographers and videographers will provide video clips and photos of all the media events for posting to the NATO website; photos can be downloaded from www.nato.int.

ONLINE / BROADCAST

  1. The opening remarks of several NATO meetings as well as the Secretary General’s press conference(s) will be broadcast live on the internal closed-circuit television system and can be viewed in the press working area as well as online, on the NATO website (www.nato.int).
  2. B-roll and press conference videos can be downloaded live via satellite or from the NATO TV & Radio Unit (see the contact details below). After each event, the videos are available for free download from NATO Multimedia.

ACCREDITATION AND SECURITY CHECKS

  1. Journalists in possession of a valid NATO permanent media pass do not need to request accreditation.
  2. Journalists not in possession of a valid NATO permanent pass need to request ad-hoc accreditation here. Please find instructions on how to create a profile in Annex 1.
  3. Media representatives who have successfully been accredited will receive confirmation by email. Media representatives are encouraged to bring a printout of the confirmation email when collecting their badge.
  4. The deadline for ad-hoc accreditation requests is no later than Tuesday 15 October 2019 at 23:59 (Brussels Time).
    Requests entered after the deadline are considered late, will be strictly limited, and may be unsuccessful. In accordance with NATO media accreditation procedures, NATO reserves the right to deny or withdraw accreditation of media representatives from media organisations who abuse their privileges, put the accreditation to improper use or act in a way not consistent with the principles of the organisation. Late applications will not be taken into consideration for pool access.
  5. Media passes must be collected in person upon presentation of an ID card or passport and a valid national press pass (or accreditation letter from a recognised media organisation) at the Main Entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110.
  6. The same NATO accreditation procedures shall apply for media wishing to cover both the ministerial and pre-ministerial events (on Wednesday 23 October 2019). They are detailed here.
  7. Passes must be visible at all times, and security personnel may ask to see another form of ID. Media representatives are advised to arrive with sufficient lead time to clear security checks. Security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects carried onto the site.

MEDIA FACILITIES

  1. Television and Radio editing spaces will be made available. They will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, upon request by email to the NATO TV & Radio Unit (see contact details below). 
  2. NATO also makes available one TV and one radio studio when they are not in use by senior NATO officials. These facilities are usually booked via delegations’ press officers wishing to accept interview requests from media organisations.
  3. A press area with working spaces will be set up on the first floor of the public square area. Electricity sockets, Wi-Fi internet, and telephones will be available. In addition, the permanent filing centre is also available on the first floor of the Public Square, facing the Agora.
  4. Working spaces cannot be booked in advance but are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

OPENING HOURS

 
Accreditation Office
Media Centre
Wednesday 23 October
08:00-13:00
09:00-20:00
Thursday 24 October
09:00-18:30
09:00 – End of Operations
Friday 25 October
07:00-14:00
06:00 – End of Operations

PARKING

  1. Media representatives will not be allowed to park their vehicles inside the NATO compound. They may, however, park in the visitor’s car park of the NATO HQ, or in the car park directly across the Main Entrance, at the Z entrance parking of the former NATO HQ. Uplink vans may park in a special section of the car park upon request to the NATO TV & Radio Unit.

CONTACT POINTS

Overall Coordination & pool cards
Ms Irina Novakova
Tel: +32 (0)2 707 1003
Novakova.Irina@hq.nato.int
Accreditation
Mr. Angelo Pacifico
Tel: +32 (0)2 707 83 46
NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int
TV & Radio arrangements on site and via satellite
Mr. Serge Bosmans
Telephone: +32 (0)2 707 50 03
bosmans.serge@hq.nato.int
 
Mr. Eric Morel
Tel: +32 (0)2 707 12 87
morel.eric@hq.nato.int
NATO Video on demand
NATOChannel
content@natomultimedia.tv
Tel: +32 (0)2 707 12 27


Annex 1

New profiles:

How to create a new profile in the NATO Accreditation portal https://my.hq.nato.int/:

  • Please select New user
  • Use a unique email address per registration. It is not possible to register groups or more than one person with the same email address
  • Avoid using special characters (e.g. accents) when you enter information in your profile and ensure that the filenames of your photo and attachments do not contain special characters
  • In case our site is blocked by your provider (most likely because of a firewall), it is advisable to use a device connected to a different Internet source (4G or connection at home)
  • For media not in possession of a national press card number, please enter N/A within the National Press Card Number field

Existing profiles:

  • Enter your email address (username) and password. If you have lost your password, please reset it here
  • If your email address (username) has changed, please send an email to NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int

How to register for the event:

Once your profile has been created:

  • Login: https://my.hq.nato.int/ (Click on Registered user)
  • Click on Update your Event Attendance: select the event
  • Attach files as required
  • Tick and accept fields
  • Submit your request before the deadline

To verify that you are registered, please log in to your profile and click on Update Your Event Attendance. You are registered if the event tick box is checked.

Attachments

Upon registration, you will be required to upload two types of attachments:

  1. Identity: a copy of your ID card/passport
  1. Professional:
    • Candidates in possession of a valid press card (provided by a recognised national professional body of a NATO country – i.e. government, professional association or union) are required to upload a scanned copy of it onto their profile (PDF)
    • Candidates not in possession of a valid press card (provided by a recognised national professional body of a NATO country – i.e. government, professional association or union), are required, regardless of nationality, to upload a signed letter from their editorial staff onto their profile (PDF)