Note to Correspondents

The Conference will be opened on Monday, 25 October, at 10.00 a.m. in Plenary I. Speakers at the opening session will include Maria Julia Alsogaray, outgoing President of the COP and Minister for Natural Resources and Sustainable Development of Argentina; the newly elected President of COP 5, Jan Szyszko, Minister of Environmental, Protection Natural Resources and Forestry of Poland; Gerhard Schröder, Federal Chancellor of Germany; Bärbel Dieckmann, Lord Mayor of the City of Bonn; and Michael Zammit Cutajar, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Simultaneous interpretation from and into English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and German will be provided at the opening session.

A limited number of seats are available on the Gallery for media representatives. Correspondents who cannot be accommodated in Plenary I during the opening session will be able to follow the proceedings on closed-circuit television monitors outside the conference hall in Hotel Maritim or via a video conferencing system in the Press Centre located at "Deutsche Post AG", Robert-Schumann-Platz. Proceedings in Plenary I (and other selected special events) can also be followed by RealVideo Broadcast on the Internet on a special web site created for the Conference at http://cop5.unfccc.de

Ten minutes prior to the opening of the Conference, television crews and still photographers will have an opportunity for establishing shots in Plenary I. Once the Conference is declared open, cameramen and photographers will be asked to leave the hall.

Television broadcasters will receive live pool feeds from the opening session. The pool feed will be provided by Phoenix TV (contact: Mr. Elmar Lindner, fax: +49-221-220-8749). Radio broadcasters can receive feeds in floor language from mult-boxes located at the Gallery.

A Press Centre will be established on the ground floor and first floor of "Deutsche Post AG", Robert-Schumann-Platz, located opposite the Hotel Maritim (approx. 200 m).

On the ground floor, entrance hall, an open bull-pen Press Working Area offers space for print media on a first-come-first-served basis; a computer centre with some 20 PCs with Internet capability and printer; a media information counter; a documents counter; and a video conferencing system transmitting proceedings from Plenary I. The Press Accreditation Counter (Ms. Andreana Kakavas), the office of the Media Coordinator (Mr. Axel Wüstenhagen) and the TV&Radio Liaison Officer (Ms. Yvette Morris), as well as the German Government Media Liaison Office will also be established on the ground floor.

On the first floor, the Telecommunication Centre offering international and local telephone and fax services and modem connections will be established. Furthermore, other press liaison offices and additional work areas for correspondents will be available on the first floor.

The Spokesman of the Conference (Mr. Michael Williams) will be located at the Press Information Desk located at the entrance of Hotel Maritim.

Accredited correspondents will be able to use the Canteen Services at Deutsche Post AG located on the ground floor of the building. The restaurant facilities will be shared with Deutsche Post AG staff. The Restaurant will be open weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In addition, a snack area and small shop will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (from Monday through Thursday) and from 7:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday. A coin operated coffee/tea/ chocolate machine will operate weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Press briefings by the United Nations, by national delegations and, occasionally, by non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations will be held in the Press Conference Room (Saal Reger), located at Hotel Maritim. The President of the COP, the chairmen of the subsidiary bodies, and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will brief the press several times. The Conference Spokesman will also hold regular briefings.

In addition, several delegations (e.g. the European Union, the United States, the G-77 and others), United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) representing environmental and business interest will hold press briefings in the Press Conference Room and other locations.

There should be a particularly large number of briefings when Ministers arrive for the final three-day high-level segment of the Conference. Briefings will normally be limited to 30 minutes maximum.

PLEASE NOTE: While some regular press briefings will be announced in the Daily Journal of the Conference (available at the Press Documents Counter), many other briefings will be announced on short notice on the programme monitors in Hotel Maritim or on the announcement board in the Press Centre.

A Press Information Desk located at a large Information Counter at the entrance of Hotel Maritim and close to the Press Conference Room will assist journalists, upon request, in contacting delegates for arranging interviews.

Journalists can obtain official documents, including the annotated agenda and the advance list of participants from the Press Documents Counter in the Press Centre. Official documents can also be accessed via the Internet at terminals in the Press Centre at a special COP 5 web site, at http://cop5.unfccc.de.

Visual media are permitted to film, record interviews and take photos in all public areas of the conference site unless otherwise restricted for security reasons. Generally, all open meetings of the Conference are accessible to the print media subject to the availability of sufficient space.

PLEASE NOTE: No access will be granted to any media representative to closed meetings of the Conference or to office areas.

Except for the opening session, when pool feed is available from Phoenix TV at Hotel Maritim, no pool feed can be provided of plenary meetings convened in Plenary I and Plenary II or from the Press Conference Room to the Press Centre.

Due to practical space considerations, it will not be possible for individual television crews to enter freely into the conference rooms to record proceedings. However, limited possibilities throughout the Conference and, in particular, during the high-level segment, will be granted to individual television crews to record plenary statements by the representative of their home country. Prior arrangements should be made on an ad hoc basis with the TV&Radio Liaison Officer (Contact: Ms. Yvette Morris, Media Coordination Office, Press Centre).

Photo opportunities will be provided for the visual media (television and still photographers) on the floor in Plenary I prior to the opening of the Conference on 25 October, as well as prior to other meetings, in particular, during the high-level segment of the Conference (2-4 November) and the conclusion of the Conference (5 November). Television crews (and photographers) are asked to exit the room as soon as the meetings are called to order.

Television crews are invited to record their own coverage of press conferences and briefings in the Press Conference Room (Saal Reger). Audio in that room must be obtained from mult-boxes which are available to television and radio journalists on a first-come-first-served basis.

Commercial arrangements for editing and satellite distribution (only for Beta SP PAL) have been made with ZDF (Second German Television) at their nearby local studio in Bonn, Langer Grabenweg 45-47. (Contact: for technical assistance, Mr. Heinz Borré, tel: +49-228-9584-402; for editing, line/facility bookings, Ms. Silvia Huschet, tel +49-6131-70-2076.)

No pool feed can be provided of plenary meetings convened in Plenary I and Plenary II or from the Press Conference room to the Press Centre. However, mult-boxes will be available for radio journalists in Plenary I and in the Press Conference Room. They are shared with television crews on a first-come-first-served basis.

For further assistance, international radio broadcasters may contact Mr. Juergen Layer, International Relations Radio, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne, phone: +49-221-220-3298; fax +49-221-220-3307; cellular phone +49-172- 2538424; e-mail: juergen.layer@wdr.de.

Photo opportunities will be provided for the visual media (still photographers and television) on the floor of Plenary I prior to the opening of the Conference on 25 October, as well as prior to other meetings, in particular during the high-level segment (2-4 November) and the conclusion of the Conference (5 November). Photographers (and television crews) are asked to exit the room as soon as the meetings are called to order.

Except during the first part of the high-level segment on 2 November, delegations will make their interventions from their seats. As there are no suitable photo positions for coverage, requests for non-flash photo access to the floor while the plenary meetings are in session, will be dealt with on an ad hoc basis by an on-scene information officer. Photo journalists are asked to request this access only when it is absolutely necessary. (Contact: Ms. Yvette Morris, Media Coordination Office, Press Centre)

During the first part of the high-level segment (2 November), a limited number of photo positions will be available. Subject to the overall number of accredited photo journalists, there may be a need for establishing photo pools. Arrangements will be announced in the Press Centre. Photo journalists are advised that the light level in Plenary I, except for the opening session, will not be high and that the photo positions will be at a distance from the speaker's podium. Due to anticipated demand, use of these positions will be on a rotational basis.

PLEASE NOTE: Photo journalists and television crews will share positions during press conferences in the Press Conference Room.

In order to meet the world-wide interest in the Conference, a number of Internet and World-Wide-Web outreach activities will be carried out on a special COP5 web site, at http://cop5.unfccc.de. These activities include RealVideo and RealAudio broadcasts of public meetings and selected special events, as well as interactive chat sessions with climate experts and other guest speakers All official documents related to COP 5 as well as other relevant information on the Conference will be available on the COP 5 web site.

A new feature this year is a special ring of web sites linking UNFCCC, the United Nations Information Centre Bonn (UNIC), the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety of Germany (BMU) and the Center for International Cooperation Bonn (CIC) in German at "Klimakonferenz Bonn".

In keeping with the traditional practice of sessions of the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies, there is also a vigorous and varied programme of special events and exhibits convened and organized by the Parties to the Convention, United Nations specialized agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. So far, there are over 120 special events tentatively scheduled to take place during COP 5 and 40 exhibits.