PROFILE - Jens Stoltenberg: NATO Secretary General

By Nilay Kar Onum

ISTANBUL (AA) - NATO allies agreed on Thursday to extend the tenure of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by another two years until 2022.

“NATO Allies agreed today to extend the mandate of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by a further two years, until 30 September 2022”, NATO announced on its website.

“Allies expressed their support for the Secretary General's work to adapt and modernize NATO and ensure it remains fit for the future,” the statement said.

On Twitter, Stoltenberg said he was “honored by the decision by the #NATO Allies to extend my term as Secretary-General until 30 September 2022.”

“Together we will continue to adapt&modernise our Alliance to keep it fit for the future,” he said.

- Early life and career

Born in Oslo in 1959, Stoltenberg spent his childhood abroad together with his diplomat father, mother, and two sisters.

His father Thorvald Stoltenberg was a politician, who served as a foreign minister, defense minister, and an ambassador.

From 1960 to 1963, Stoltenberg lived in Serbia for three years, while his father was an ambassador to Yugoslavia.

He studied primary and secondary schools in Oslo and graduated from the University of Oslo in 1987, earning an advanced degree in economics.

From 1979 to 1981, Stoltenberg worked as a journalist at the Oslo-based newspaper Arbeiderbladet.

He then devoted himself to politics and chaired Labour Youth League from 1985 to 1989. He also worked as a leader of the Oslo branch of Labour Party from 1990 to 1992.

Stoltenberg became a member of Norway’s parliament in 1991 and served as industry and energy minister from 1993 to 1996 and finance minister between 1996 and 1997.

He served as Norway’s Prime Minister between 2000-2001 and 2005-2013. Stoltenberg took up his post as NATO chief, from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, on Oct. 1, 2014.

Bloc's chief also chaired the UN High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence and the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing and served as UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, according to NATO.

Stoltenberg is married to a Norwegian diplomat Ingrid Schulerud, who is Norway’s ambassador to Belgium and has two children; Axel and Anne Catharina.