TOPSHOT - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg poses with application documents presented by Finland's Ambassador to NATO Klaus Korhonen and Sweden's Ambassador to NATO Axel Wernhoff during a ceremony to mark Sweden's and Finland's application for membership in Brussels, on May 18, 2022. Finland and Sweden submitted their applications for NATO membership on May 18, 2022 and consultations were underway between the Allies to lift Turkey's opposition to the integration of the two Nordic countries into the Alliance.
(Photo by JOHANNA GERON / POOL / AFP)
Finland will work hard to secure Sweden’s membership of NATO.
President Sauli Niinisto said this shortly after his own country formally became the 31st country to join the Atlantic alliance.
Finland and Sweden applied together to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Of NATO’s existing members, Hungary and Turkey have still to ratify Sweden’s membership application
