Accreditation of Defence Attachés, beginning and end of term of office

Applying procedure for accreditation

A request for accreditation of a new Defence Attaché is expected to be sent by the Embassy (or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)) to the MFA well before the Defence Attaché plans to arrive in Latvia. Personal data or CV should be added.

In case of a routine change of Defence Attachés, it will speed up the accreditation procedure if the Defence Attaché ending his/her term of office sends a copy with the information about the successor directly to the Defence Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as soon as information is available.

Accreditation visits

Defence Attachés are expected to make accreditation visits (to make office calls) at the beginning and at the end of their term of office. Defence Attachés are not expected to make their introductory accreditation visits until the MFA has sent the note of accreditation.

In order to ensure a quality accreditation visits the date of accreditation visits and the participating persons have to be agreed on with the Head of Organizational Section (OS) by letter, e-mail or by telephone at least 2 weeks prior to visit. The uniform should be worn during the accreditation visits.

The new Defence Attachés are expected to visit and to make office calls to:

MoD
•    Director of Defence Policy Department;
•    Head of Bilateral Cooperation Section;
•    Head of OS.

National Armed Forces (NAF)
•    The Chief of Staff of NAF Joint Headquarters;
•    The Commander of the National Guard.

If the new non-resident Defence Attachés are unable to make accreditation visits at the beginning of their term of office, they are requested to notify the Defence Policy Department of the MoD of the start of their duties as a Defence Attaché by a letter. In this case the accreditation visits (personal introduction) of the Defence Attachés take place during their first visit to Latvia.

Beginning of the term of office

Defence Attachés are considered to have started attending their duties on the day they have officially been assigned their tasks of the predecessor. A notification of the date of beginning should be done in writing or faxed to the Defence Policy Department of the MoD, at the latest on the day of the hand-over of their duties.

The accreditation visits of the non-resident Defence Attachés can take place either on the day of hand-over of their duties announced by their country, before or after it. Even if the accreditation visits are made before this announced change-over, Defence Attachés are regarded as having started attending his/her duties on the day prescribed in the official note.

Personal data

In connection with the accreditation visits, the new Defence Attachés are requested to provide Defence Policy Department of the MoD with personal data or CV in English in advance.

Personal data should include:
•    First name, middle name, surname
•    Military rank
•    Branch of Armed Service
•    Duty position
•    Date of birth and birthplace
•    Marital status
•    Spouse first name, middle name and surname
•    History of civilian education and qualifications
•    History of military service (duty, rank promotions)
•    Awards
•    Knowledge of foreign languages, spoken and written
•    Office address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address
Information concerning children names is very welcomed.

The Defence Policy Department of the MoD must be notified of the changes taking place in the position and military rank of the Defence Attachés during their term of office.

If an Assistant Defence Attaché or personnel of Defence Attaché Office is assigned to substitute for the Defence Attaché, the Defence Policy Department of the MoD should be informed about this.

At the end of their term of office, Defence Attachés are expected to make the farewell protocol visits. It is preferable that the farewell protocol visits of the outgoing Defence Attaché and the introductory protocol visits (accreditation) of the new Defence Attaché are made at the same time.

During the accreditation visits no gifts or presents are intended. Defence Attachés may present official gifts during their farewell ceremony. For this intention Defence Attachés are kindly requested to inform OS in advance (during the preparation of the visit).