Stoltenberg and Schmid to lead Munich Security Conference

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and German diplomat Helga Schmid will jointly lead the Munich Security Conference, BR reported. The foundation’s board unanimously approved the Norwegian-German leadership team on Monday.

Stoltenberg and Schmid are to take over from long-serving chairman Wolfgang Ischinger in time for the 63rd Munich Security Conference in February 2027. They will lead the conference as equal co-chairs.

Nikolaus von Bomhard, president of the foundation’s board, described the pair as two of the world’s most experienced diplomats. Ischinger said he was pleased that the board had approved the proposal and would continue supporting the conference as an active member of its board after almost 20 years at the helm.

Stoltenberg, 67, has been Norway’s finance minister since last year. He previously served as NATO secretary general and as Norway’s prime minister. He was originally expected to take over the Munich Security Conference in 2025 from Christoph Heusgen, but withdrew after accepting the finance minister’s post in the government of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Störe.

Ischinger served as interim head of this year’s conference. Heusgen chaired the event from February 2022 to February 2025, when his scheduled term ended.

Schmid has been vice-president of the conference’s foundation board since 2021. She previously served as secretary general of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and of the European External Action Service. In 2024, the German government nominated her as its candidate for president of the United Nations General Assembly. Former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Greens took the post in September 2025.

The Munich Security Conference is regarded as the world’s most important expert meeting on security policy and regularly attracts numerous heads of state and government.