Jens Stoltenberg will take over as chairman of the Munich Security Conference after completing his term as NATO Secretary General. Stoltenberg will step down on October 1 after nearly a decade in office. According to Politico, after the conference in February 2025, Stoltenberg will replace Christoph Heusgen, a German diplomat who has been leading the event for the past two years, UNN reports .
Details
Jens Stoltenberg, 65, former Prime Minister of Norway, took over as NATO Secretary General on October 1, 2014. He led the defense bloc during several international crises, and during his tenure, almost the entire development of the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation, which eventually led to Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, took place.
According to the original plan, Stoltenberg was supposed to leave office in 2022, but at the request of the Allies, he remained in office after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and his term was extended twice for another year.
Context
The Munich Security Conference is a security event that has become a key meeting place for world leaders and has earned the name “Davos with guns,” a reference to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The event is often used by U.S. politicians and senior military leaders to appeal to their European allies.