The candidacy of Mark Rutte, the Acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands, as the next Secretary General of NATO has been confirmed, reports the RFE/RL.

Rutte’s candidacy was approved by the ambassadors of NATO countries in Brussels. His official appointment to this office is expected to take place at the organization's Washington summit in July.

Rutte’s term of office will be five years. He will replace the current NATO Secretary General, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.

The new NATO chief will take office on October 2. His main task will be to increase defense spending for all member countries to the extent of 2 percent of their GDPs. According to NATO estimates, 23 of the 32 member countries have reached the target indicator for military spending.