Informal Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers

1. Information

Ministers of Foreign Affairs will hold informal meetings in Tallinn, Estonia, on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 April 2010, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General, Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, His Excellency Mr Urmas Paet will host the meetings.

2. Programme and pools

The detailed programme will be given to media representatives when they collect their accreditation. All duly accredited media representatives are invited to a Media reception that will take place on 22 April, in the evening.

The programme will entail restricted access by selected visual media to the opening of Council meetings and the official portrait, the unrestricted access to press conferences and the retransmission of media events to the press working area and TV/Radio editing booths. Information about individual ministerial media programmes should be sought directly from the national Delegation(s) concerned. A list of NATO Delegation press officers will be available at the information desk in the Media Centre.

Press conferences are in principle media events open to all accredited media. 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 counter starting at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, 22 April 2010.

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 Unit (see the contact details below) and/or the NATO Internet Television Channel.

3. Venues

The Radisson Blu Hotel (Rävala pst. 3, Tallinn) and the Swissotel Tallinn (Tornimäe 3, Tallinn) are the venues for the ministerial meetings. The Media Centre and the Media Accreditation Office will be located at the Olümpia Hotel (Liivalaia 33, 10118 Tallinn).

4. Public Diplomacy event

At the margins of the ministerial meetings, the International Center for Defence Studies in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division will organize the annual Lennart Meri Conference “Tomorrow’s NATO – Stronger Values and Stronger Capabilities”,which will take place between 21–23 April at the Nordic Hotel Forum. Interested media can access http://lmc.icds.ee/mediareg or contact Mr. Kaarel Kaas (email: kaarel@icds.ee; phone: +372.6949.340; mobile +372.514.8950). More details on Lennart Meri conferences are available at: http://lmc.icds.ee/.

5. Accreditation and security checks

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 19 April 2010. 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 photograph in JPEG format).

The NATO accreditation platform is being modernized, so media representatives who already have an account in the old system but have not yet activated their account in the new system are asked to follow these steps:
Click on the following link (https://my.hq.nato.int/). In the right-hand column of the Web page, click on “Forgot your password?” (1) and enter the e-mail address that was in your JAS accreditation profile (2) (an access code will be sent to that address). Next click on the “Forgot password” button (3) and check your e-mail. Then return to the home page (https://my.hq.nato.int/) and click on “Registered user”. You will be asked to enter your e-mail address and the access code that was sent to you. You can change this access code/password after logging in for the first time.
Please contact us directly by email if you have connection problems or any other questions (mailto:press-at-tallinn@hq.nato.int).

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 may 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, 21st April 2010.

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/.

7. Broadcasting

The host nation, assisted by Eurovision Special Events is setting up twelve television and eight radio editing booths located in the Media Centre. A TV studio equipped for live transmissions and a radio interview room as well as stand-up positions will also be made available (part of them connected to the Eurovision network).

The Host Broadcaster, Estonian Television (EER), will provide live coverage of arrivals of delegations, the public sessions of all meetings, and major international news conferences. Estonian Television 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:

Maarja Kadajane
Telephone: +41 22 717 28 40
Mobile: +41 79 244 65 67
Email: kadajane@eurovision.net

Satellite uplink trucks and O.B. vans will be parked nearby the media centre. For any question on this subject please contact the Estonian 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 several radio editing booths.

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

9. Accommodation

Media representatives are invited to make their own hotel arrangements.

The host nation authorities identified and recommend Olumpia Hotel for the media representatives attending the meeting. Booking requests can be sent by email to estonia.sales@revalhotels.com or by fax to +372 6 690 691. Room reservations should be made by mentioning NATO Ministerial as password.

Reval Hotel Olümpia
33 Liivalaia, 10118 Tallinn
Telephone: +372 6 315 315
http://www.revalhotels.com/

Many other hotels are also available in Tallinn.

10. Transport

A shuttle bus will be available from the airport to the Accreditation Office on 21 April (during the afternoon) and 22 April (during morning hours). Details on the timetable will be provided in the airport.

Beyond these hours media representatives are invited to make their own way to the media centre / recommended media hotel. Details on public transport from Tallinn airport are available at http://www.tallinn-airport.ee/eng/transport/publictransport.

11. Access to the Media Centre and parking

Media will have access to the Media Centre / Reval Hotel Olümpia only via Lembitu Street. There will be a taxi drop-off point near the entrance, and a parking will also be available for media representatives arriving by car (alongside Liivalaia street, across the hotel).

12. Enquiries