Official program:

3-4 April 2009 in Strasbourg, France / Kehl, Germany: Summit meeting of NATO heads of state and governments

Chancellor Merkel will welcome the heads of state and governments on 3 April at 5.30 p.m. in Baden-Baden. At 7 p.m. there will be a working dinner at the Kurhaus Casino Baden-Baden.

On 4 April at 8.30 a.m. (!), initially there is a photo opportunity with the heads of state and government on the footbridge „Passerelle des deux Rives” (between Straßburg and Kehl).

The actual summit starts on 4 April at is expected to run from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. The official meetings with all the delegation will take place at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès(Place de Bordeaux – F-67000 Strasbourg). The meetings will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The President of the French Republic, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mrs Angela Merkel, will host the meetings.

Occasionally, the heads of state and governments will meet for (a pompous) lunch at Palais Rohan. The official timing is not known yet.

The heads of state and governments and their delegations will stay at different hotels along the „Rheinschiene” (city-row along the Rhine) between Baden-Baden and Freiburg. Who will be accommodated in which hotel is (as well) not known now.

The media centre for up to 1,200 journalists is located in the district „Wacken”. Transport to NATO summit events in Germany will also be from the media centre.

Security zones: The authorities certainly know where the exact locations of the security zones are, but it has not been announced to the public.
So far it is certain that there will be at least two security zones in the proximity of the Palais de la Musique et des Congres (congress in the district “Wacken”), of Wacken and the cathedral as well as of Palais Rohan. Until April 3 and 4, other security zones might emerge. „Lycee Kleber” (secondary school) and all markets will be closed.

With these security zones, there is little space left for democratic protest in the centre of Strasbourg city.


Please find the complete NATO-summit’s program on NATO’s official homepage at the following link: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2009/p09-008e.html