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Added on the 04/06/2023 15:30:23 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Dutch prime Minister Mark Rutte welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of a working dinner for NATO Heads of State and Government, part of the preparations for the upcoming Summit in Vilnius. IMAGES
President Sauli Niniisto of Finland and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden meet with their Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid in a bid to get Erdogan to drop objections to them joining the US-led defence alliance. Erdogan has refused to greenlight the applications from the Nordic pair despite calls from his NATO allies to clear the path for them to enter. IMAGES
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says he has convened a meeting between the leaders of Turkey and Sweden on the eve of a summit next week to push Stockholm's stalled membership bid. "On Monday, in Vilnius, I will convene a meeting with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Kristersson, as the next step in this process," Stoltenberg says after talks at NATO headquarters with foreign ministers from the two countries. SOUNDBITE
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg calls on Ankara to drop its opposition to Sweden's bid to join the defence alliance, saying Stockholm has addressed Turkey's security concerns and "fulfilled its obligations". Turkey has dragged its feet over admitting Sweden into the alliance, with President Erdogan accusing the country of being a haven for "terrorists", especially members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies. Stoltenberg explains that Sweden has progressed in "stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation, including against the PKK." SOUNDBITE
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's Secretary General, meet in Brussels at the NATO foreign ministers meeting. As Finland joins the military alliance, Ukraine is also pushing for eventual NATO membership, but Western diplomats say that remains a still distant prospect. IMAGES
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