Media advisory

ATHENS, 25 November 2009 - The following information on media arrangements for the 17th OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens on 1-2 December was issued today by the Greek OSCE Chairmanship. Media accreditation to cover the event is mandatory. Applications are due by 27 November.

GENERAL

The 17th OSCE Ministerial Council will take place in Athens on 1 and 2 December. The event will be held at the invitation of the 2009 Chairman-in-Office, Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou.

The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting, held annually, provides the foreign ministers of the 56 OSCE participating States an opportunity to review and assess the Organization's activities during the past year and offer national viewpoints on security matters.

Media are invited to cover the event, which will be held at the Hellinikon Sports Complex (Olympic fencing centre), 8-10 Tzireon Street, in Athens. Media will follow the proceedings of the meeting through closed-circuit television broadcasts at the Media centre in the Hellinikon Sports Complex.

ACCREDITATION

Access to the venue is limited to accredited media representatives. The deadline to apply for accreditation is 27 November, 2009. Advance accreditation is mandatory. Late requests will encounter delays and may be rejected.
The accreditation form is available at:

http://www.minpress.gr/minpress/en/index/services/services-applications.htm

Please, note that media representatives accredited to the OSCE in Vienna or in any other OSCE locations still need separate accreditation for the OSCE Ministerial Council.

Media representatives should consult the nearest Greek Embassy to check if they need an entry visa prior to their arrival to the country.

Once in Athens, media representatives should obtain their press badges from the Accreditation Desk located at the Media Entrance at the Hellinikon Sports Complex.

A press badge will allow access only to the media-designated areas. Access to other areas is limited; a media officer must accompany journalists outside media-designated areas. Press badges should be worn visibly at all times. Additional ID may be requested by security personnel at any time.

The Accreditation Desk will be open from 14:00, 27 November.

Media representatives should present a valid ID or passport, and a valid press card or letter of accreditation from their media organization.

MEDIA CENTRE AND SECURITY CHECKS

The Media Centre at the venue will be open to accredited media from 27 November to 2 December.

The Media Centre is located west of the Main Conference Hall (Arena) and has a separate entrance. The journalists' working area within the Media Centre - the Press Centre - will be open from 27 November to 2 December.

Press Centre working hours:
Friday 27 November 14.00 - 20.00
Saturday 28 November 9.00 - 20.00
Sunday 29 November 9.00 - 22.00
Monday 30 November 9.00 - 24.00
Tuesday 1 December 8.00 - 24.00
Wednesday 2 December 8.00 - 24.00

Press Centre facilities

The Press Centre can accommodate 240 persons and is equipped with: telephone handsets, 120 PCs with internet access, wireless internet access for laptops, ISDN lines, printers, fax machines, photocopiers, plasma walls, plasma TV screens and wireless head sets.

Media representatives are advised that security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects brought to the Media Centre and are therefore advised to arrive with sufficient lead time to clear security checks.

The Media Centre has briefing rooms for delegations' media events, and 15 television and radio editing booths for radio and TV journalists. Reservation of booths and stand-up positions will be on a 'first come, first served' basis.

The parking area for media vans is located northwest of the Media Centre.

MEETING POINT

The Meeting Point will be located inside the Media Centre.

MEDIA INFO DESK

A Media Info Desk is located inside the Press Centre.

Personnel of the Greek General Secretariat of Communication/Information will be available for general information requests during the working hours of the Media Centre. The Media Info Desk will be collecting applications for:

• interviews with ministers,
• media coverage of bilateral meetings,
• use of the briefing rooms for news conferences and other media events.

ACCOMMODATION

Special accommodation rates have been negotiated by the Conference' Housing Bureau, AFEA Travel and Congress S.A., in a variety of hotels. Rooms and suites will be allocated strictly in the order that the applications were submitted. To book a room, please fill in an online accommodation form at:

http://www.osce.org/documents/cio/2009/10/40818_en.pdf

and send it to osce2009bookings@afea.gr. According to OSCE regulations, accommodation expenses will be covered by the media themselves, and not by the host country.

TRANSPORT

Regular shuttle bus transportation service for media will be available from the parking area to the Media Centre starting from 14.00 on Friday, 27 November.

A shuttle service from a number of hotels to the Hellinikon Sports Complex, will be organized from 27 November until 2 December. The shuttles will depart from the hotels every 30 minutes starting from 8.00 depending on the hotel locations following the routes below:

Route 1: Grand Resort Lagonissi - Classical Vouliagmeni Suites - Emmantina - Glyfada
Route 2: Astir Palace Arion/Westin - Margi - Plaza Vouliagmeni Strand - Divani Apollon Palace - Amarilia
Route 3: Tropical - Poseidon - Coral
Route 4: Metropolitan - Ledra Marriot - Athenaeum Intercontinental

Schedules of departures of the first/last busses are in the enclosed PDF file.

Departures of shuttles from the Hellinikon Sports Complex back to the above hotels are scheduled every 30 minutes from 08.30 to 22.30.

PARKING

A parking area for media representatives will be located near the entrance to the Old West Airport (Departures/Arrivals building).

Until 27 November applications for parking spaces can be submitted by telephone: + 30 210 9098330; + 30 210 9098325,or by e-mail: Publicrelations2@minpress.gr

From 28 November, applications for parking spaces should be directed to the Media Info Desk at the Press Centre or sent to the following e-mail: mediacenter.osce@gmail.com

TOUR OF THE NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM - WELCOME DINNER FOR MEDIA - RECEPTION

A tour for journalists of the New Acropolis Museum guided by the President of the Acropolis Museum, Dimitrios Pandermalis, is scheduled for the evening on Monday, 30 November. After the tour, a welcome reception for media hosted by Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis will be held at the restaurant of the Museum.

Buses will depart from the Hellinikon Sports Complex for the New Acropolis Museum at 18.00 on Monday, 30 November.

HOST BROADCASTER

The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) will be the host broadcaster for the OSCE Ministerial Council. The ERT through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will provide live stand-up position, tape play out facilities and shared editing to broadcasters.

EBU Office at ERT: Tel. 210 6066152, 6,7.
Email: ebudep@ert.gr
newsoperations@eurovision.net

POOLS

During the event six pools will be set up for a limited number of photo reporters and cameras.

Pool 1: Arrival of guests (Main Entrance of the Hellinikon Complex) (20 photo + cameras)
Pool 2: Handshake ceremony (20 photo + cameras)
Pool 3: Official Opening (open to all photographers + 3 cameras)
Pool 4: Family Photo at the Hellinikon Complex (open to all)
Pool 5: Family Photo at the Acropolis Museum (Number of photographers and cameras to be determined).
Pool 6: Official Closing Session (Number of photographers and cameras to be determined)

For security reasons, photographers and camera operators can choose to be either in Pool 1 (arrival) or Pool 2 (handshake), but not in both.

Applications for pools will be collected and information about the pools will be available at the Media Info Desk in the Press Centre.

Photographers should communicate their pool preferences to the Media Info Desk. In case the number of requests exceeds the designated pool size, pool positions will be allocated on a 'first come, first served' basis.

Pool cards will be distributed at the Media Info Desk.

Camera operators and photographers are encouraged to arrive as early as possible to the Media Centre, as special traffic measures will be in place for the transportation of the official Delegations.

A 50-seat bus is scheduled to depart from the Monument of the Unknown Soldier (Syntagma Square) on Tuesday, 1 December, at 7.30 a.m. for the camera operators and photographers covering the morning events.

INOCULATION OF PERSONNEL AGAINST THE NEW FLU PANDEMIC

A programme has been set up by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inoculate, on a voluntary basis, all personnel involved with the organization of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens against the New Flu Pandemic.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Monday, 30 November 2009
15.00 OSCE briefing, Small Conference Room
18:00: Guided tour of the New Acropolis Museum for media followed by reception
18.00 Meeting of the OSCE Troika and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation
19.00 Meeting of the OSCE Troika and the Asian Partners for Co-operation
20.00 Dinner of the OSCE Troika and the Asian and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation

Tuesday, 1 December 2009
08.30 - 09.45 Arrival of the Delegations
10.00 First plenary session
Formal opening and addresses by:

• Karolos Papoulias, President of the Hellenic Republic
• George A. Papandreou, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office
• Joao Soares, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
• Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, OSCE Secretary General
• Statements by the Heads of Delegations

Family photo
13.00 Working luncheon for the Foreign Ministers / Heads of Delegations
15.00-18.00 Second plenary session (closed)
- Statements by Heads of Delegations
19.30 Reception for members of delegations and the media - Family Photo
20.00 Official dinner for Foreign Ministers / the Heads of Delegations

Wednesday, 2 December 2009
09.30 Third plenary session (closed)

• Statements by the Heads of Delegations
• Adoption of Ministerial Council decisions and documents
• Any other business
• Closing session
• Address by a representative of the host country
• Formal closing (statements by the current and incoming Chairmen-in-Office)

13.30 News conference of the OSCE Troika (Main Conference Room)

 USEFUL CONTACTS

Media Info Desk in the Media Centre
(Logistics/Pools/Interviews/General Information)
Tel. +30 2109803400
Tel. +30 2109803401
Email: mediacenter.osce@gmail.com

ACCREDITATION OFFICE
Tel. +30 2109803490
Tel. +30 2109803491
Tel. +30 2109803794
Fax. +30 2109803795

OSCE SECRETARIAT MEDIA CONTACTS
PRESS OFFICE, MEDIA CENTRE
Tel. +30 2109803487
Tel. +30 2109803488
Fax. +30 2109803771