Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană receives NATO Meritorious Service Medal
On Tuesday (10 September 2024), Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for his service to the Alliance.
During his tenure as the first NATO Deputy Secretary General from Central and Eastern Europe, Mr Geoană made numerous contributions to NATO. As the Alliance’s “innovation champion” and Chair of NATO’s Innovation Board, he contributed to the creation of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). He was also instrumental in deepening NATO’s partnerships, “helping to take our cooperation with the EU to unprecedented levels, and enhancing our work with other partners around the world,” said the Secretary General at the medal ceremony.
The Secretary General thanked Mr Geoană for being “a leading advocate for NATO, engaging – and connecting – with audiences from all walks of life, promoting our shared values and explaining how we defend them every day.”
Mr Geoană expressed his gratitude to NATO staff: “I want to thank you for what you represent. I want to thank you for the privilege of working and helping me in everything we did.” Reflecting on his time in office, Mr Geoană said “these five years, I can say have been probably the most transformative years in the 75 year history of our great Alliance.” He concluded with words of encouragement, advising the staff to: “continue to believe in this organization, continue to believe in what we represent, what we stand for.”
Mr Geoană, a former foreign minister for Romania, became NATO Deputy Secretary General in October 2019.