NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday announced that he will be traveling to Turkiye soon to push for the country?’s approval for Sweden?’s membership in the western military alliance.

“I spoke with President Erdogan earlier this week. And again, I always highlight the importance of making progress on the accession of Sweden. And I will also travel to Ankara in the near future to continue to address how we can ensure the fastest possible accession of Sweden,” he told reporters ahead of an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway.

He also highlighted the fact that “as of today, 1st June, new counterterrorism laws have come into force in Sweden and these laws actually make a difference, and they demonstrate that Sweden is now taking new steps to step up the fight against terrorism, including for instance, PKK which is a terrorist organization.” Further, Stoltenberg said that “today?’s meeting will discuss preparations for the NATO Vilnius Summit in July and how to step up and sustain our support for Ukraine”.

They will also address how to further strengthen partnerships with in the Indo Pacific region, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

On the situation in Kosovo, he said the first deployment of extra troops by NATO?’s mission KFOR will be around 700 and they are on their way.

“But of course, this does not mean that we are giving up on a political solution. Our message both to Belgrade and to Pristina is that they have to engage in good faith in the EU facilitated dialogue,” he added.

Source: Kuwait News Agency