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Anthony Blinken: Sweden and Finland are “ready” to join NATO

Anthony Blinken: Sweden and Finland are “ready” to join NATO

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) is on a two-day visit to Washington.

Also on the agenda was a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Finland and the United States, Pekka Haavisto and Anthony Blinken, where discussions took place on Sweden’s EU presidency, relations with China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Sweden and the NATO-Finnish operation.

After the meeting, the ministers held a joint press conference.

Antony Blinken says Sweden and Finland are “ready” to join NATO.

– I am convinced that NATO will soon officially welcome Sweden and Finland as members, he says.

He adds that since the NATO summit in Madrid in June, Sweden and Finland have taken “concrete” measures to meet the demands that Turkey has placed on those countries to ratify their accession protocol.

“Progress well”

Tobias Bjöllström thanks Blinken for the US support and says that the Swedish NATO operation is “progressing well”.

– We are dealing with the issues raised by Turkey within the framework of the memorandum signed at the Madrid summit, and we are doing it step by step. But it must be understood that the implementation of the memorandum must take place within the framework of the constitution that we have in Sweden, Swedish legislation and Swedish legal principles. He says this is something the Turkish government is well aware of.

Billström announced that he and Pekka Haavisto would go to Ankara to discuss NATO operations in the two countries with their Turkish colleagues.

– I hope the discussions will move us forward, he says.

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Anthony Blinken: Sweden and Finland are ready for NATO picture: SVT live broadcast

SVT Nyheter broadcast the press conference live. Watch the broadcast next over here.