NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that he is absolutely sure that Sweden will join the Atlantic Alliancetwo days after his re-election Tayyip Erdogan to the presidency of Turkey, which has so far blocked his admission.

“I am absolutely sure that Sweden will become a member of NATO, a full memberStoltenberg said during a round table in Oslo, where tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday informal meetings of NATO foreign ministers are taking place.

“We will have close contacts with Ankara, with President Erdogan, to help speed up this process as much as possible,” the NATO Secretary General told reporters.

“They have made great strides since all member countries, including her Türkiyethey were invited to become full members during the Madrid summit last year, he added.

“Since last autumn I have been of the opinion that Sweden should already have acceded by ratification and I continue to hold this opinion.. But when 31 countries have to agree, it obviously takes a little longer than I would like, and that’s what we’re dealing with,” he added.

If a representative of Turkish diplomacy is not present at the informal preparatory meeting this week, he will undoubtedly be present at the Vilnius summit on 11 and 12 July.

With information from APE-MPE and AFP