By Gwladys Fouche and Sabine Siebold
OSLO (Reuters) – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he would soon travel to Turkey to discuss Sweden’s NATO membership, in a bid to close a process that has been delayed due to objections from member countries Turkey and Hungary.
Speaking during a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Stoltenberg said he had spoken to Tayyip Erdogan earlier this week, who at the weekend won re-election as Turkey’s president.
“I will also travel to Ankara in the near future to continue to address how we can ensure the fastest possible accession of Sweden,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
Sweden, invited to Oslo, stressed again it had fulfilled all the conditions set to become a member of the military alliance.
“We have fulfilled all our commitments,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters. “It is time for Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification of Swedish membership to NATO.”
Several NATO foreign ministers expressed confidence Sweden could become a member before, or at, a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
“There is a very high expectation that the Swedish flag will be raised (in Vilnius),” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Sabine Siebold, editing by Terje Solsvik)
