Washington [US], July 2: The White House has announced that Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is set to meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday, a week before the start of a crucial NATO summit in Lithuania.
Kristersson is scheduled to meet Biden for talks at the White House, with Sweden's hoped-for NATO accession being a key topic, US officials said on Saturday.
Biden and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson plan to "review our growing security cooperation and reaffirm their view that Sweden should join NATO as soon as possible," the White House said a statement Saturday. The leaders also will discuss the war in Ukraine and China.
Sweden's NATO membership application, which it submitted more than a year ago along with Finland, is still being blocked by alliance members Turkey and Hungary. New members must be approved unanimously by NATO members.
The NATO summit is due to take place in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.
NATO had hoped the road to Sweden's membership would be smoothed out before the alliance's summit. Sweden's entry would be a highly symbolic moment and the latest indication of how Russia's war is driving countries to join the alliance.
Turkey backed Finland's bid to join NATO but objected to Sweden, citing security concerns.
Erdogan accuses Stockholm of not taking action against "terrorist organisations," an apparent reference to mostly Kurdish political groups from Turkey that operate in exile in the country such as the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Sweden recently tightened its terrorism laws and the country's supreme court approved the first extradition to Turkey of an alleged PKK supporter, in an apparent bid to appease Ankara.
But more recently, Islamophobic protests in Sweden caused considerable tensions between Stockholm and Ankara. Last week, two men took part in a protest involving burning a Koran outside a mosque in central Stockholm in a protest authorized by the Swedish police.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he would gather senior officials from Turkey, Sweden and Finland this coming Thursday to try to overcome Turkey's objections.
Hungary also has yet to ratify Sweden's bid. Hungarian lawmakers said a long-delayed parliamentary vote on that would not would not happen until the autumn legislative session.
Source: Qatar Tribune