NATO says Finland and Sweden have applied to join
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg said that Finland and Sweden applied to join the bloc this morning (May 18).
“I warmly welcome your offer to join NATO of Finland and Switzerland. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg was quoted as saying by CBS News, after the official received applications to join NATO from the ambassadors of the two Nordic countries.
It is expected that Finland and Sweden’s applications to join NATO will need to be approved by the 30 member states of this bloc. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently expressed opposition to the two Nordic countries joining the military organization.
“The security interests of all NATO member countries must be taken into account. We are determined to solve all problems and make decisions quickly, and acknowledge the strong support of all other allies,” Stoltenberg added.
According to CBS News, the process of ratifying NATO membership will take 8-12 months, but many countries in the bloc will want accession to happen faster. Canada has announced in recent days that it will only take a few days for its approval of Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
Tuan Tran
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vietnamnet.vn – Read the original article here
