The handover ceremony from Jens Stoltenberg to Mark Rutte took place at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has officially taken over as NATO Secretary General from his predecessor, Jens Stoltenberg. The awarding ceremony took place at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday 1 October.
Stoltenberg said in his farewell speech that he was honored to serve in NATO for 10 years.
“It is time to go, and for you to take the position of Secretary General of NATO. To mark this moment, I give you this gavel, which Iceland donated to NATO in 1963. It is used in special NATO meeting. Last time it was used in our last ministerial meeting we are using it again today,” Stoltenberg told Rutte.
After that, Stoltenberg handed the gavel to the new Secretary General and invited him to sit in the chair of the head of the North Atlantic Council.
As you know, in June, Mark Rutte’s candidacy for the post of Secretary General of the Alliance was agreed upon by all 32 NATO member states. Previously, he served as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for almost 14 years – until July of this year.
In this regard, Jens Stoltenberg, who served as Secretary General of NATO since October 1, 2014, according to Western media reports, will become the head of the Munich Security Conference in February 2025, replacing the German diplomat Christoph Heusgen .
Earlier on Tuesday, Mark Rutte said that Ukraine is one of NATO’s top priorities.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.