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NATO member states invite Finland, Sweden to the alliance — declaration

In this regard, the summit participants welcomed the signing of the trilateral memorandum between Turkey, Finland, and Sweden

MADRID, June 29. /TASS/. The NATO Summit in Madrid made a decision to invite Finland and Sweden to become members of the alliance, according to the declaration, published after the highest-level meeting.

"We reaffirm our commitment to NATO’s Open Door Policy. Today, we have decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO, and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols.

According to the meeting participants, the accession of the two Scandinavian states will "make them safer, NATO stronger, and the Euro-Atlantic area more secure." The alliance also noted that the security of Finland and Sweden "is of direct importance to the Alliance."

"In any accession to the Alliance, it is of vital importance that the legitimate security concerns of all Allies are properly addressed," the document reads.

In this regard, the summit participants welcomed the signing of the trilateral memorandum between Turkey, Finland, and Sweden.

On May 18, Finland and Sweden filed their applications for accession to the alliance. They were supposed to obtain an invitation for accession during the NATO summit in Madrid, but Turkey blocked this process. On June 28, negotiations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who initiated these negotiations, took place in Madrid.

After the negotiations, Foreign Ministers of the three countries signed a memorandum on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, sales of weapons to Ankara and combating terrorism. Erdogan’s Office told TASS that Turkey considers the signed document an achievement of desired steps from Sweden and Finland for their accession to the alliance.

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