The defense secretary of the United States urged NATO allies Turkiye and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s accession to the world’s largest military alliance as soon as possible.
WEEKS after Finland became the 31st Member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called on Hungary and Turkiye to hasten Sweden’s accession, as he looks forward to having the Nordic Country declared as an official member before the upcoming summit in Lithuania in July.
“We recently welcomed Finland to ratify Sweden’s accession as soon as possible,” said Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense.
Austin made the plea during a visit to Sweden earlier this week where he met with Swedish Defense Minister PåL Jonson.
The two defense ministers held talks at the headquarters of the Swedish Navy on Musko Naval Base near Stockholm earlier this week.
During their meeting, the Pentagon chief discussed the rising interest in Sweden’s Military might and told his counterpart that having the Nordic Country, as a member will surely bring a lot of value to the alliance.
The trip marks the first visit of a Pentagon chief in 23 years.
Meanwhile, Sweden is set to host one of its largest military exercises in more than 25 years.
Dubbed Aurora 23, the joint exercise will be conducted from April 24 through May 11.
More than 26,000 soldiers from the army, navy, air force, national home guard, and military units from 14 other countries will participate in the drills.
The exercise will be conducted in the air, on the ground, and at sea and reinforce the collected capability to counter an armed attack against Sweden.
