NATO chief bids farewell to headquarters

BRUSSELS, July 30 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday bid farewell to officials and the international staff at the alliance headquarters, practically ending his tenure as NATO chief.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, center, walks with his wife Jeannine, left, before placing a wreath during a departure ceremony  at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday July 30, 2009. De Hoop Scheffer has stepped down as NATO's secretary-general after over five years in office. His successor, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen,  formally assumes office on Monday.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

De Hoop Scheffer and his wife Jeannine were welcomed upon their arrival by his deputy Claudio Bisogniero, Dean of the decision-making North Atlantic Council, Per Poulsen-Hansen, and chairman of the Military Committee, Adm. Giampaolo di Paola.

De Hoop Scheffer met his closest collaborators before laying flowers at the memorial for soldiers fallen in NATO-led operations in the courtyard. The de Hoop Scheffers then left in a car.

The incoming NATO secretary general, former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will take up his duties next Monday although his tenure officially starts on Saturday.

De Hoop Scheffer, a Dutch politician, became NATO secretary general in January 2004. In the past five and a half years, he devoted his efforts mainly to the NATO-led military operations in Afghanistan and NATO's defense transformation. He also witnessed the accession of nine countries to NATO.