NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the US state of Iowa on 22 and 23 September, meeting state leaders and the Iowa National Guard.
Rutte and the US Permanent Representative to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, met Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Tuesday afternoon, the alliance announced on Wednesday.
The pair later took part in a moderated conversation about NATO in Des Moines hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
“NATO may seem far away from America’s heartland. But believe me, the two are inextricably linked — by history and by shared values,” Rutte said.
Visit to Iowa National Guard headquarters
On Wednesday, Rutte and Whitaker visited the Joint Force Headquarters of the Iowa National Guard at Camp Dodge.
They met the Adjutant General, Major General Stephen Osborn, and praised Iowa’s troops for their service, including contributions to NATO exercises and missions, especially KFOR, NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
Rutte then travelled to New York for the UN General Assembly.
