NATO countries have agreed to extend the term of office of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and will officially announce it next week, diplomats revealed on Thursday.
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Former Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg, who has been at the helm of the Western military alliance since 2014, had his term of office extended for a year – until October – after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Several NATO diplomats confirmed that member states had reached a consensus to extend the 64-year-old Stoltenberg’s term for another year, given that it was difficult to find a suitable replacement for him before the NATO summit in Lithuania in July. A number of politicians who were considered potential candidates have recently dropped out of the race, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
US Ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, would not confirm that an agreement had been reached to extend Stoltenberg’s mandate, but told reporters that an announcement about the secretary-general position was likely to be made “in the coming days”. Extending Jens Stoltenberg’s mandate is an option that allies are considering,” Smith said.
2023-06-29 18:30:02
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