Sweden's goal is to participate as a member country during the NATO summit in Vilnius in July. This is stated by Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) after yesterday's visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Luleå.
"We know that the United States has strong support and interest in Sweden becoming a NATO member. It is very gratifying to hear this once again when we are so close, says Tobias Billström in Morgonstudion.
NATO ministers to Oslo
On Wednesday, Billström will leave Luleå to meet the foreign ministers of the NATO countries in Oslo.
"My focus will be to ensure that the other NATO allies clearly express the view that we want to hear, namely that they also share the view that we should be members as soon as possible before the summit in Vilnius begins.
So far, only Turkey and Hungary are not behind Swedish membership.
"We already know that we have been approved by the parliaments of the NATO member countries in a process that is unprecedented in NATO's history. We also know that nothing has changed since the Madrid Summit.
Billström: Appropriate if Turkey participated
Billström understands that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu will not participate, while at the same time he believes that it would have been appropriate for Sweden.
"The important meeting between Sweden and Turkey is not a conversation between two ministers, but the meeting in the permanent mechanism that was set up in connection with the NATO summit in Madrid.
Instead, a formal meeting is expected in the coming weeks between Sweden, Finland and Turkey, the foreign minister says in the video above