NATO headquarters
NATO Headquarters | |
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) |
The NATO headquarters is the political and administrative center of the
The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegations of
History
1949–1952: London
When NATO was established in 1949, London was the first location chosen for its headquarters. A 19th-century mansion designed by the architect Thomas Cubitt at 13 Belgrave Square, in the heart of the city's Belgravia neighborhood, was made available to the organization. Nowadays, this building houses the Ghana High Commission.[3]
1952–1967: Paris
1952–1959: Temporary premises
On 15 September 1950, at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in New York City, it was decided to establish the headquarters in Paris, mainly because of the city's central position and its excellent means of communication. The move was officialized on 1 April 1952, coinciding with NATO's third anniversary.[5] In Paris, the organization initially occupied temporary premises constructed along the reflecting pool of the Palais de Chaillot in the Trocadéro, located across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, in the 16th arrondissement.[5]
1959–1967: Permanent premises
A permanent building, donated by France in April 1954, was constructed at
1967–present: Brussels
1967–2017: Temporary premises
Following France's decision to withdraw from
After an international call for tenders, NATO entrusted the construction of these new headquarters, in March 1967, to two Belgian-German-Dutch joint ventures. Work began immediately and was completed twenty-nine weeks later. The site, owned by the Belgian Government and symbolically rented to NATO,[5] was inaugurated on 16 October 1967.[10]
2017–present: Permanent premises
Problems in the original building stemmed from its hurried construction in 1967. In 1999, during the Washington Summit, the Heads of State and Government of the allied countries decided to replace the building with headquarters adapted to 21st-century needs.[11] It was then decided to build new headquarters located just opposite the current ones on the site of the old terminals of the Haren 6 airfield.[12][13]
A new €750 million headquarters building was constructed over the period between 2010 and summer 2016,[14] and was dedicated on 25 May 2017 with a ceremony in the presence of allied Heads of State. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg addressed the crowd, while then-US President Donald Trump hectored some among the crowd over their failure to live up to the 2% GDP target that was expected of them by their senior partner.[15] The cost of the new headquarters building escalated to about €1.1 billion.[11]
The complex was designed by an international design consortium led by the US Firm of
Overview
Situated along the Boulevard Léopold III in
The staff at the Brussels headquarters primarily supports the North Atlantic Council and its subsidiary organisms. The International Staff provides advice, guidance, and administrative support to the NATO Secretary General. It works closely with the International Military Staff (IMS). The first is primarily civilian; the second, primarily military, filled from serving members of the armed forces of member states.[2] The IMS works to the instructions of the senior military body of the Alliance, the Military Committee, and its Chairman. There are also a host of national delegations; liaison offices, and diplomatic missions attached to the headquarters.
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Exterior view from the Boulevard Léopold III/Leopold III-laan
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Flags of member states waving at the entrance
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Interior view
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Meeting room
See also
- NATO Star, a sculpture situated in the headquarters' court of honor
- Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium
- Norfolk, United States
References
Footnotes
- ^ The building now serves as the main campus of Paris Dauphine University.
Citations
- ^ a b "NATO homepage". Retrieved 12 March 2006.
- ^ a b "NATO Headquarters". Nato.int. 10 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
- ^ "Ghana High Commission Ghana High Commission is set to co ordinate". Brazil Consulate. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ "NATO Media Library: Opening of NATO Headquarters at Palais de Chaillot - 16 April 1952".
- ^ a b c NATO. "NATO's homes". NATO. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Lieux oubliés: l'université Paris-Dauphine, «Sous les cahiers, l'héritage?»". RFI (in French). 14 August 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ Collins 2011, p. 26.
- ^ Le Blévennec, François (August 2007). "The Big Move". NATO Review. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ Isby & Kamps 1985, p. 13.
- ^ Le siège de l'OTAN fête ses trente ans en Belgique (in French), Revue de l'OTAN, vol. 45, no 5, September–October 1997, p. 34–35
- ^ a b NATO (February 2017). "New NATO HQ" (PDF). www.nato.int. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- ^ NATO. "Why Belgium?". NATO. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ a b "NATO's new headquarters". NATO. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- ^ Mayo, Virginia (13 November 2014). "NATO shows off its new HQ-to-be". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 June 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ "Watch: President Trump's speech at NATO HQ". CBS News. 25 May 2017.
- ^ Wragg 1973, p. 241.
Bibliography
- Collins, Brian J. (2011). Nato: A Guide to the Issues. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-313-35491-5.
- Isby, David C.; Kamps, Charles Jr. (1985). Armies of NATO's Central Front. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-0341-8.
- Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-85045-163-4.
External links
- Media related to NATO Headquarters at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website