NATO to sign accession protocols for Finland, Sweden on Tuesday

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will sign the Accession Protocols for Finland and Sweden on Tuesday, said NATO in a press release on Monday.

The NATO member countries, represented by their Permanent Representatives to NATO, are preparing to sign the Accession Protocol, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will attend the signing ceremony. The Accession Protocol for Sweden will be signed in the same ceremony. Once the Accession Protocol is signed, Finland will become an invitee of NATO.

Before the formal signing, Finland and NATO will hold accession talks on Finland’s NATO membership on Monday.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will head Finland’s delegation, and Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen will act as vice-chair.

The accession talks will cover five areas: political issues (including counter-terrorism policies), defence and military issues, legal issues, resource issues and information security issues.

The obligations and commitments of NATO membership will be discussed topic by topic.

In addition, Finland will reaffirm its commitment to the content of the North Atlantic Treaty based on questions from the NATO Secretariat.

Earlier on June 29, NATO decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become its members and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols.

On May 18, Finland and Sweden formally submitted their applications for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).