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Meetings of NATO Ministers of Defence

to be held in Riga, Latvia
on 30 November - 1 December 2021

General

1. Meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Foreign Affairs Ministers will be held in Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday 30 November and Wednesday 01 December 2021. The meetings will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

Venue

2. The ministerial meetings will take place at the ATTA Convention Centre, Krasta iela 60, Rīga, LV-1003. The Media Centre will be located at the same venue.

3. This media advisory marks the opening of online registration for accreditation.

Media Accreditation  

4. Taking into account COVID-19 safety measures and the current sanitary situation, a limited number of media representatives will be allowed to cover the event in person.

5. Media representatives who wish to cover the event need to seek accreditation, even if they have annual accreditation at NATO (detailed procedure outlined below).

6. The press conferences of the NATO Secretary General will be also open for online participation. Registration will be required.   

7. Attendance in person:

1. All media representatives wishing to cover the meetings in person will 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.
2. The deadline to register and apply for media accreditation for attendance in person is no later than Sunday 21 November 2021 at 23:59 (Brussels Time/CET).
3. Media representatives are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible to allow for sufficient time for processing their requests. For security and COVID-19 reasons, late applications may be rejected.
4. NATO strongly recommends media organisations to plan for a minimal physical presence. It is unlikely that all accreditation requests will be accepted. NATO will confirm the accreditation explicitly by email.
5. Physical access to the ministerial venue will be granted only if one of the conditions below is met:

• The applicant possesses a vaccination certificate proving that they are fully vaccinated since 14 days before entering the venue premises; 
• The applicant brings a recovery certificate that shows that at least 11 days have passed since a positive test result (recovery certificate valid for 180 days).

6. More details will be communicated separately to the accredited media at a later stage.
    

8. NATO will also facilitate remote coverage/interaction:

1. NATO is offering journalists the option to ask questions remotely via Zoom to the NATO Secretary General during his press conferences. Journalists wishing to do so are requested to register by no later Wednesday 24 November 2021 at 23:59 (Brussels Time) via NATO’s accreditation platform: https://my.hq.nato.int. Please find instructions on how to create a profile in Annex 1.
2. Media representatives registered for remote engagement will be contacted separately for technical details. While every effort will be made to accommodate as many questions as possible, time limitations might not allow all questions to be asked.

9. 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.

10. Requests entered after the deadline are considered late, and may be unsuccessful. In accordance with NATO media accreditation procedures, NATO reserves the right to deny or withdraw accreditation of media representatives 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.

11. Media passes must be collected in person from the Accreditation Office, upon presentation of an ID card or passport and, whenever possible, a valid national press pass.

12. The location of the Accreditation Office is Jēkaba iela 24, Rīga, LV-1050. Opening hours will be communicated at a later stage to accredited media.

13. Media passes must be visible at all times. 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.

Programme

14. The meetings will start on Tuesday 30 November in the afternoon and will end on Wednesday 01 December 2021. The Secretary General’s is expected to hold press conferences on each day of the Ministerial meetings. A detailed programme will be released at a later date.

15. Information about individual ministers’ media programmes should be sought directly from their national delegation(s). A list of NATO delegation press officers is available from the Press & Media Section (MOC@hq.nato.int).

Broadcast

16. The Latvian Public Television will operate as the Host Broadcaster.

17. The opening remarks of the NAC meetings, as well as the Secretary General’s press conference(s), will be broadcast in the Media Centre and on the NATO website.

18. Live satellite feeds of the main media events events will be provided by NATO free of charge without encryption or downlink charges. The video and audio may be used only for appropriate news and public affairs uses.

19. After each event, the videos are available for free download from NATO Multimedia.

Pools

20. Access to meeting openings and the official photo will be open only for small media pools, by invitation only.

21. 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. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

Media Facilities

24. The Media Centre will include the following:

1. A filing centre (including TV/radio editing area), with electricity (230V), access to video and audio feeds, cabled and Wi-Fi internet. Working spaces cannot be booked in advance but are available on a first-come, first-served basis;
2. Information Desk and media office support;
3. Host TV Master Control;
4. An area for press briefings (including pre-cabled facilities) and interview areas. Some such spaces are pre-cabled to the Master Control and / or equipped for online engagements;
5. Internal Television Circuit for live and recorded broadcasts, information about the program, press conferences schedules and other information;
6. NATO and Host Nation Press Offices;
7. Indoor stand up area available on a rotational basis (non-dedicated positions); 
8. Parking area for satellite vans;
9. Catering facilities for media.

Accommodation, transport, travel to Latvia

25. Media are encouraged to make flexible arrangements for their accommodation in Riga. The Host Nation Latvia has identified the following hotels recommended for the media representatives:

1. Wellton Centrum Hotel & Spa
   https://www.wellton.com/lv/viesnicas/wellton-centrum-hotel-and-spa       
2. Wellton Riga Hotel & Spa
   https://www.wellton.com/lv/viesnicas/wellton-riga-hotel-and-spa

26. When booking, media representatives are invited to enter the promocode MFA2021.

27. There will be regular shuttle transport for accredited media between the Accreditation Office and the Media Centre. Details on the shuttle bus schedule will be made available closer to the ministerial. Media representatives can also go to the Media Centre directly.

28. Media representatives travelling to Latvia are requested to fill out the digital COVID-19 PASS within 48 hours before crossing the border, mentioning they travel for work related purposes. More information about the measures in place when traveling to Latvia are available here.

Opening hours

Contact Points

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 character
• 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
• Safari browser is not supported. Please use another browser (also see below the paragraph on Attachments re Mac OS X).

Existing profiles:

• 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 if you have duly submitted your application with attachments, please log in to your profile and click on Update Your Event Attendance. The event tick box should appear as checked.

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 (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) Files in Word will not be valid)

For users of Mac OS X: Please upload files only in PDF.

Group registrations:

• 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 duly registered for the event.

To verify if you have duly submitted your application with attachments, please log in to your profile and click on Update Your Event Attendance. The event tick box should appear as checked.