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Good afternoon. Our summit has taken the necessary decisions to prepare NATO for the future.
And it is my great pleasure to present to you the man who will lead the Alliance towards
that future: Jens Stoltenberg.
I have known Jens for many years. As Prime Minister of Norway, he worked hard to ensure
a strong Norwegian commitment to the Alliance. And I know he is the right man to build on
NATO’s record of success.
Jens, I am sure that under your mandate, our Alliance will continue to bind North America
and Europe together in defence of our values: freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.
I wish you every success once you take on this challenging role on the 1st of October.
Over to you.
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Jens Stoltenberg: Thank you so much, Anders, thank you for the kind introduction.
It is really a great honour to be elected as the next Secretary General of NATO, this
unique Alliance. And I will do my utmost to live up to that honour and to follow the great
example which you, Anders, have set over the past five years.
Because you have shown strong leadership of the Alliance. And you have developed the Alliance
into an even more capable organisation providing security, providing stability, and also building
the bonds between Europe, United States, Canada – the translatlantic bonds. So we are all
grateful for that and we thank you for the leadership you have shown for so many years
in NATO.
As we all know, NATO is not just a security Alliance. It is a family of values which reaches
across the Atlantic and defends almost one billion citizens of our Allied countries.
And we must continue to stand up for those values. This Summit has provided an important
platform and an important direction for the future. We need to invest politically and
financially into the Alliance.
And I look forward to taking up the post on the 1st of October. And I look forward to
working with all 28 Allies to keep our Alliance strong into the future.
Thank you so much and I look forward to working together with all of you after the 1st October.