Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg (Norwegian: [jɛns ˈstɔ̀ltn̩bærɡ]; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014.[1][2] A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.

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Jens Stoltenberg
Stoltenberg in 2022
13th Secretary General of NATO
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2014
Deputy	Alexander Vershbow Rose Gottemoeller Mircea Geoană
Preceded by	Anders Fogh Rasmussen
34th Prime Minister of Norway
In office 17 October 2005 – 16 October 2013
Monarch	Harald V
Preceded by	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Succeeded by	Erna Solberg
In office 17 March 2000 – 19 October 2001
Monarch	Harald V
Preceded by	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Succeeded by	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Leader of the Opposition
In office 16 October 2013 – 14 June 2014
Prime Minister	Erna Solberg
Preceded by	Erna Solberg
Succeeded by	Jonas Gahr Støre
In office 19 October 2001 – 17 October 2005
Prime Minister	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Succeeded by	Erna Solberg
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 10 November 2002 – 14 June 2014
Deputy	Hill-Marta Solberg Helga Pedersen
Preceded by	Thorbjørn Jagland
Succeeded by	Jonas Gahr Støre
Minister of Finance
In office 25 October 1996 – 17 October 1997
Prime Minister	Thorbjørn Jagland
Preceded by	Sigbjørn Johnsen
Succeeded by	Gudmund Restad
Minister of Industry and Energy
In office 7 October 1993 – 25 October 1996
Prime Minister	Gro Harlem Brundtland
Preceded by	Finn Kristensen (as Minister of Industry)
Succeeded by	Grete Faremo (as Minister of Petroleum and Energy)
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
In office 1 October 1993 – 30 September 2017
Deputy	Anders Hornslien Inger Lise Husøy Ragnar Bøe Elgsaas Truls Wickholm Håkon Haugli
Constituency	Oslo
Personal details
Born	(1959-03-16) 16 March 1959 (age 64) Oslo, Norway
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Ingrid Schulerud ​ (m. 1987)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Karin Heiberg Thorvald Stoltenberg
Alma mater	University of Oslo (Cand.oecon.)
Signature
Website	Official Facebook Official Twitter
Military service
Allegiance	Norway
Branch/service	Norwegian Army

Born in Oslo as the son of the prominent diplomat and politician Thorvald Stoltenberg and Karin Stoltenberg (née Heiberg), Stoltenberg attended Oslo Waldorf School and Oslo Cathedral School before graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Oslo in 1987. During his studies, he worked as a journalist, and led Labour's youth wing from 1985 to 1989.

He started his career in government as a state secretary in the Ministry of the Environment in 1990 and was elected to the Storting in 1993. He served as Minister of Industry and Energy from 1993 to 1996 and Minister of Finance from 1996 to 1997. He was Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001, was leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2014, and served as Prime Minister for a second time from 2005 to 2013. The following year, he was named as the 13th secretary general of NATO, and his term was subsequently extended four times by the NATO heads of state and government.

Stoltenberg has been described as a cautious politician, belonging to the right-wing of social democracy.[3] When he became prime minister in 2000, he was portrayed as the "Norwegian Tony Blair",[4] and his policies were inspired by Blair's New Labour agenda; his first government oversaw the most widespread privatisation by any Norwegian government to that date.[5] Stoltenberg said he was both inspired by and wanted to learn from Blair's policies.[6][7] As the second longest serving high-ranking official in NATO history, Stoltenberg has worked to expand the alliance into Eastern Europe, strengthen the alliance's military capabilities in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War, and his tenure coincided with the largest increase in NATO defense spending since the Cold War.