Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence
Brussels, 14 – 15 February 2023
- English
- French
GENERAL
A meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Defence Ministers will take place on 14-15 February 2023 at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The meeting will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
Journalists with annual NATO accreditation do not need to apply for separate accreditation for this event. All other journalists who plan to attend in person need to seek accreditation before Thursday 02 February, at midnight.
The Secretary General will preview the Ministerial meeting with a press conference on 13 February. Ministerial accreditation, as well as annual accreditation, will give access to that event.
The Secretary General will brief the media on both days of the Ministerial meeting.
A separate meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, hosted by the United States, will take place at NATO HQ on 14 February. Accreditations for the meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence will be valid for the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. Further information about this meeting will be published at a later date here. For questions about this meeting, please contact the U.S. Mission to NATO – USNATOPressQuery@state.gov.
PROGRAMME
A detailed media programme of the Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers is available on the event page.
For information about individual Ministers’ media programmes, please contact the national delegations. A list of delegation press officers is available from NATO Press & Media (press@hq.nato.int).
MEDIA ACCESS
Media representatives who wish to cover the Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers need to seek accreditation, except if they have annual accreditation at NATO.
Accredited media representatives can work in the press area of NATO Headquarters on 13-15 February and access all public areas. The opening hours of the press area will be communicated in the media programme. Accredited journalists can attend Ministers’ doorsteps and the press conferences of the NATO Secretary General.
National briefings will also take place at NATO Headquarters. Those may be by invitation only. Please contact national delegations at NATO for details about their plans.
ACCREDITATION
Media representatives who have annual accreditation to NATO for 2023 do not need to apply for separate accreditation for this event.
All other media representatives wishing to cover the meeting need to apply for accreditation. They need to register via NATO’s media accreditation platform: https://my.hq.nato.int. Please find instructions on how to log in or create a new profile in Annex 1.
The deadline to register and apply for media accreditation is Thursday 02 February, at midnight (CET).
Please apply as early as possible to allow for sufficient time for processing accreditation requests.
NATO will confirm accreditation explicitly by email. Please bring a printout of the confirmation email when collecting your badge.
Media passes must be collected in person upon presentation of an ID card or passport at the Main Entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110 Brussels. Please bring the same ID document that you used to apply for accreditation online.
Passes must be visible at all times. Please arrive early to clear security checks. Security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects.
BROADCAST AND STREAMING
NATO will provide broadcast-quality video in real time on EBU World feed or to EBU News Exchange.
NATO photographers and videographers will provide video clips and photos of all public events during the ministerial meeting. Photos can be downloaded from the NATO website. The video files will be available for free download from the NATO Multimedia Portal.
The Secretary General's press conferences will be streamed live on the NATO website.
MEDIA FACILITIES
A press working area will be set up on the first floor of the Public Square at NATO HQ. Working spaces cannot be booked in advance and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Television and radio editing spaces will be available upon request by email to the NATO TV & Radio Unit (please use the contact form below).
POOLS
A few elements of the Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers will be accessible only to a pool of visual journalists. These include the start of some ministerial sessions and the official photo. To request a pool card, please email NatoMediaOperations[at]hq.nato.int, no later than Friday 10 February, by 16:30 CET.
Pool cards will be distributed on the first floor of the Public Square of NATO HQ on 13 February. Please check the media programme for the timing.
If you accept a NATO pool position you must share immediately all information and material collected while in the pool with any accredited media that request it, at no charge and with no restriction on the use of the material for news purposes.
Media organisations that want pooled images should first contact the wire service / photo agency of which they are a 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 cannot be sold.
PARKING
Media representatives can park in the Visitors' 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 can park in a special section of the car park upon request to the NATO TV & Radio Unit. Please make your request by 10 February at the latest.
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Annex 1 - Eligibility to apply for media accreditation at NATO
Media accreditation to NATO is reserved for journalists (written press, online, radio and TV journalists, film crews and press photographers). To apply, they must meet the following criteria:
- Journalism must be their main source of income
AND
- Be employed by a bona fide media organisation
OR
- Cover NATO affairs for a bona fide media organisation on freelance basis
Media organisations must meet the following criteria to have their representatives be accredited at NATO:
- Editorial independence
- Be a commercial organisation with no distribution restrictions
- Must be open about how and by whom they are financed, and have a specific, verifiable address and telephone number.
- For online media, they must demonstrate that the majority of their website content covers original news, commentary or analysis, and be updated at least once a week.
Publications that focus on communications outreach, advocacy publications of non-governmental or non-profit organisations, think tanks or interest groups do not qualify for media accreditation.
Annex 2 - Instructions for using the NATO Accreditation portal
Portal link: https://my.hq.nato.int/
Creating a new profile:
- Select New user on the portal homepage
- Use a unique email address per registration. It is not possible to register groups or more than one person with the same email address
- In case our site is blocked by your provider (most likely because of a firewall), 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 in the National Press Card Number field
- Safari browser is not supported. Please use another browser (also see below the paragraph on Attachments re Mac OS X).
Updating an existing profile:
- 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
Registering for an event:
Once your profile has been created:
- Select Registered user on the portal homepage and log in
- Click on Event Attendance: select the event
- Attach files as required
- Tick and accept fields
- Submit your request before the deadline
To verify if you have duly submitted your application with attachments, please log in to your profile and click on the Event Attendance tab. The event tick box should appear as checked https://my.hq.nato.int/ → Login → Homepage → Event Attendance
Including attachments:
To complete your registration, you will be required to upload two types of attachments:
- Identity: a copy of your ID card/passport
- 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 are required, regardless of nationality, to upload a signed letter from their editorial staff onto their profile (in PDF)
For users of Mac OS X: Please upload files only in PDF.
- It is not possible to register groups or more than one person under the same email address.
- A unique email address must be used to create a profile and register.
- Editorial staff can prepare and sign a letter (in letterhead) containing all the names of the crew members that the media outlet/company wishes to send to cover the event. The letter must contain:
SURNAME, Name, date of birth, ID/Passport number
Each crew member can upload the same group letter onto their individual registration.
It is the company/media outlet responsibility to ensure that all their crew members are registered for the event.
To verify if you have duly submitted your application with attachments, please log in to your profile and click on the Event Attendance tab. The event tick box should appear as checked https://my.hq.nato.int/ → Login → Homepage → Event Attendance