It was decided at the 2023 Vilnius summit that the Netherlands would be hosting the 2025 edition, marking the first time a NATO summit would take place in the country.[1] The exact date and location, the World Forum in The Hague, were announced by outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in May 2024.[2] The last major diplomatic conference held in The Hague was the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit, and the city was chosen over Rotterdam, Apeldoorn, and Maastricht.[3] It was estimated that the event would attract 8,500 attendants, of whom 6,000 delegation members, and would cost €95 million.[3][4] Due to capacity issues, temporary structures were erected around the World Forum, for which trees and traffic lights were removed. The Dutch National Police announced plans to deploy 27,000 personnel – nearly half its total workforce – for what would be the largest security operation in its history. Resources would be concentrated around The Hague, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and the connecting route. The police discouraged organizing other events in the Netherlands during the summit.[5]
