Summit arrangements
Summit arrangements
Country delegation
- Each Country Delegation may comprise up to four official delegates and a maximum of two observers.
- Official delegates should comprise a Minister-level representative as the Head of the Delegation (HOD), a maximum of two teacher union leaders and one teaching professional.
Arrival and transfer
The Icelandic ISTP2025 organizing committee will host a welcoming desk for delegations at Keflavik airport during the arriving hours of the Heads of Delegations (HODs). The desk will be located in the arrivals hall.
A two-way airport transfer will be provided for each country’s HOD and accompanying members who arrive and depart on the same flights. Desk agents connect HODs and accompanying delegates to the relevant chauffeur.
For delegation members arriving or departing on different flights, please visit https://visitreykjavik.is/traveling-reykjavik to learn more about the options available for travel between the airport and the hotel.
The hotels are in walking distance from the summit venue, but transfers will also be provided between the hotels and the summit venue.
Liaison Officers
A liaison officer will be assigned to accompany each delegation during the ISTP2025. Points of Contact (POC) will receive the contact information of their liaison officers (LO) before the Summit. Liaison officers will be fully available to the relevant delegations during the Summit’s programme from March 24th – 26th, providing information to the delegation, e.g. about the meeting agenda, timing and in relation to bilateral meetings, as well as assisting on further matters as needed. Liaison officers will greet the relevant delegations at the Registration and Hospitality desk from 8 AM March 24th, or as wished by the relevant Head of Delegation.
Summit Proceedings
The Summit will take place in Silfurberg and Norðurljós on Level 2 in Harpa Conference and Concert Centre. Meeting rooms for scheduled bilateral meetings are located on the 4th floor.
Official delegates will be assigned seats at the main table and in a row behind the main table, in an alphabetical order of the participating countries and special observers countries. Delegation observers may take their seats in the audience section of the conference room.
At the beginning of the summit, the moderator will inform the delegates about the proceedings and the procedure to request the floor to speak. Please note that speaking opportunities cannot be guaranteed for all delegates during each session. Delegations wishing to secure participation in specific sessions are strongly encouraged to communicate their requests to the moderator in advance of the summit. Interventions of each delegation should not exceed two minutes to allow as many countries to participate as possible, generating a dynamic dialogue. Further information on the format of the discussions will be available in the moderator’s letter which will be sent to all delegations in advance of the Summit.
Silfurberg
Silfurberg
Silfurberg is a large conference hall on the second floor, with theatre style seating for an audience of up to 840.
Featuring the best available technological equipment, Silfurberg is specially designed as a conference hall and for a range of amplified events. The hall’s stage is both moveable and expandable and acoustics are configurable and have been adapted to the spoken word.
Silfurberg can be divided into two spaces – each accommodating 325 seated guests – with a soundproofed retractable partition. The hall is linked to Norðurljós by two soundproofed portals, allowing the halls to be connected for larger events.
Eyri is a bright and beautiful open space right in front of the hall. It is especially well suited for exhibitions, coffee breaks, or standing receptions in relation to events held in Silfurberg.
Norðurljós
Norðurljós
Norðurljós is a recital hall on Harpa’s second floor, situated between Eldborg and Silfurberg. It offers various possibilities for concerts, conferences, receptions and other events.
Norðurljós recital hall is the perfect setting for all all kinds of events.
The hall is equipped with custom designed lighting equipment that can be configured in a number of coloured themes, creating the most suitable atmosphere for the event taking place. All around the perimeters of the hall there are balconies, and the stage is movable.
Two soundproofed portals connect Norðurljós and Silfurberg, so that the two halls can easily be used together for larger events.
Harpa floor plans
Harpa floor plans
A layout of the summit venue.
Will interpreters be available?
The summit will be held in English only. However, if countries wish to bring their own interpreters, they must contact the organizers at istp2025@komum.is.
Country Delegation Meeting
Country delegations will meet on the last day of the Summit (Wednesday, March 26th) for an hour to discuss and prepare their policy priorities/three commitments for 2025.
Delegations will meet in the Norðurljós or elsewhere in Harpa. Advance booking is not required.
Each country delegation should prepare the following using the template found here:
- one key insight from the Summit and
- three top commitments for the coming year.
The completed template should be uploaded to the following link before the end of the allocated time of one hour (please indicate your country in the file name): https://www.dropbox.com/request/p0056jJUPFEWPcMks8KJ or by e-mail to speakerready@harpa.is.
Country delegations are required to bring their own electronic devices to fill in and submit the template.
Bilateral Meetings
All Country POCs (as indicated during the registration process) will receive a list of all Country POCs by email on 21st February 2025. Delegations may use the list to contact the relevant POC to arrange a bilateral meeting at a mutually suitable date and time.
If a bilateral meeting room is required, the requesting country POC should submit a request by contacting istp2025bilaterals@komum.is indicating:
- The countries involved
- Preferred date and time
- The POCs and their email addresses
- Number of delegates attending the meeting (max. 3 – 4 persons for each delegation)
The POCs will receive an e-mail confirmation from the organisers with the date, time and assigned meeting room once arrangements are made.
The bilateral meeting rooms (Nes, Vík, Vör and Sund) are located on the 4th floor. The meeting room will be able to accommodate a maximum of 6-8 delegates (up to 3-4 delegates from each country).
Open space bilateral facilities (for pull aside meetings) will also be made available in the informal bilateral area which is located on the staircase between the 2nd and the 3rd floors: Himnastiginn (e. The stairway to heaven). Each platform on the staircase will include seating and a coffee table.
The list of POCs will be revised based on the latest registration data. Country POCs will receive an updated list every Friday afternoon.
School visits
School visits are scheduled as part of the preliminary programme on Monday, March 24th, from 10:00 to 11:45 AM. Descriptions of the participating schools will be uploaded to the ISTP2025 website in the coming days. Visitors will be assigned to one of the participating schools based on the selected school level indicated during registration.
Further information regarding the school visits will be provided in due course. Points of Contact (POCs) will receive confirmations of their country delegates allocations.
Chatham House Rule
The summit’s programme includes both open sessions (open to media and live streamed) and closed in-person sessions. Both the opening and closing sessions are open to all delegates and the media. The core of the summit will include three thematic sessions which will be open to official delegations and observers only.
Summit Sessions 1, 2 and 3 will come under the Chatham House Rule, which states that ‘participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.’ This includes postings on social media. Following the rule will facilitate open discussions among Ministers, union leaders and participants of ISTP2025.