Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will travel to New York this weekend to attend the opening ministerial session of the United Nations General Assembly and pay tribute to the victims, survivors and first responders in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On Sunday (27 September 2015) the Secretary General will visit the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York where he will participate in a wreath laying ceremony. His visit will also mark the start of a joint project between the US Department of State, the 9/11 Memorial and NATO to display a piece of steel from the Twin Towers in the new NATO Headquarters.

Mr. Stoltenberg will join world leaders at the opening session of the General Assembly. This is a historic UN gathering, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of the organization. It is expected to adopt new global Sustainable Development Goals – an important step toward addressing the root causes of instability and conflict, such as poverty and inequality. NATO is playing its part in tackling security challenges, for instance, in helping partner countries build up their defence capacities.

The Secretary General will also attend, together with US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a Peacekeeping Summit which is to look at ways to make UN peacekeeping operations more effective.

Later in the week, the Secretary General will travel to NATO’s Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia. There, Mr Stoltenberg will attend the change of command ceremony together with members of the North Atlantic Council.