Who is NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg?

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has agreed to back Sweden’s application for membership to the alliance.

He said that the Turkish president will “ensure ratification” by sending Sweden’s bid to the Ankara parliament.

After hosting talks between Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Kristersson ahead of a Nato summit in the Lithuanian capital, Stoltenberg gave a speech in Vilnius late on Monday.

“President Erdogan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly [Turkey’s parliament] as soon as possible and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification,” Stoltenberg said.

Who is Jens Stoltenberg?

Jens Stoltenberg was born on 16 March 1959. He is a politician from Norway and has been NATO’s 13th secretary general since 2014. He was the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 till 2013. He is a member of the Norwegian Labour Party.

The son of well-known politician and diplomat Thorvald Stoltenberg and Karin Stoltenberg (née Heiberg), who was born in Oslo, Stoltenberg attended the Oslo Cathedral School and the Oslo Waldorf School before earning a degree in economics from the University of Oslo in 1987. He was a journalist while he was in school and served as the head of Labour’s youth wing from 1985 to 1989.

In 1990, he began his career in politics as a state secretary in the Ministry of the Environment. In 1993, he was chosen to serve in the Storting. From 1993 to 1996, he was Minister of Industry and Energy, and from 1996 to 1997, he was Minister of Finance.

He served as prime minister from 2000 to 2001, as well as the Labour Party’s leader from 2002 to 2014 and again from 2005 to 2013. He was appointed the 13th secretary general of NATO the following year, and the heads of state and government of NATO subsequently extended his term four times.