COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will become Norway's next central bank governor, officials said Friday.

Stoltenberg's tenure at NATO ends later this year. Norway's government announced his appointment at the central bank in a statement and said it hopes he can start in his new role around Dec. 1.

The current governor of Norges Bank, 70-year-old Øystein Olsen, is retiring this year after holding the position since Jan. 1, 2011, for two terms.

Stoltenberg, 62, was Norway's finance minister from 1996 to 2000, and prime minister from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013. He had previously said if he got the central bank governor position, he wouldn't be able to start before leaving his NATO job on Oct. 1.

He became NATO secretary-general in 2014. After a successful first term, his mandate at the trans-Atlantic alliance was extended.

Stoltenberg has been praised for steering NATO through a difficult period under the Trump administration, when the U.S. threatened not to come to the aid of member countries that weren’t spending enough on defense.

Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said he wanted to find “the best central bank governor for Norway, and I am confident that it is Jens Stoltenberg.”

“The combination of financial background, understanding of society and a management experience few in Norway have, makes him very suitable as top manager of Norges Bank,” he said in a statement.

He added that deputy governor Ida Wolden Bache will be the interim governor until Stoltenberg can take over.

Olsen said in a separate statement that Stoltenberg is “a committed and skilled economist,” and that the bank would be “in safe hands” with Wolden Bache.