Brussels, 4 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - NATO member states have extended the term of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg until October 1, 2024, the alliance chief tweeted on Tuesday.

Stoltenberg has been in office since 2014. His term was last extended in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, until September 2023.

Unable to agree on a successor to Stoltenberg, NATO allies extended his mandate again. The Norwegian is already the second-longest serving secretary general, after Dutchman Joseph Luns who led NATO from 1971 to 1984.

Stoltenberg has earned recognition as a skilful mediator between the sometimes very different interests of the now 31 NATO members.

He is credited with moderating the dispute over low defence spending by the European allies, which led to particularly heated debates during the term of former US president Donald Trump. He has also had to coordinate NATO’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

NATO states now hope to agree on a successor in time for the alliance's 75th anniversary on July 2024 in Washington.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and British Defence Minister Ben Wallace were considered candidates for Stoltenberg’s succession but failed to receive sufficient backing.

Opponents of Frederiksen pointed out that NATO's top job should not again go to a Nordic country after being held by Norwegian Stoltenberg since 2014 and by Dane Anders Fogh Rasmussen from 2009 until 2014.

Arguments against Wallace included that he has never been head of government and does not hail from a European Union country.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has also been briefly regarded as a potential candidate.

Stoltenberg repeatedly said that he himself would not seek a contract extension but would leave the decision to the 31 member states of NATO.