NATO is working on 30 allies to agree on the potential membership of Sweden and Finland, the bloc's secretary-general said on Wednesday.
"I'm confident that we will find a solution, all Allies agree that NATO's open-door (policy) has been and is a great historic success.
"We are proven again and again (that) when there are differences among NATO Allies, when Allies like Turkey raises concerns, we sit down and then we address them and we need 30 allies to agree. We're working on that," Jens Stoltenberg told a joint news conference with Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sefik Dzaferovic at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Stoltenberg said they are working on the issue at all levels -- from the level of the president and the prime minister to the level of ambassadors.
Both Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership on the same day and Turkiye evaluated the applications together, he noted.
Stoltenberg also said Finland and Sweden, by applying on the same day, are "sending an important message" in terms of unity, and that NATO welcomes this joint effort.
For decades, Sweden and Finland took a neutral foreign policy posture in the region, but the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that started on Feb. 24 triggered a shift in their approach, with both the public and most politicians favoring joining the NATO alliance.
However, Sweden and Finland, which have stated their intention to seek NATO membership, have not responded positively to requests from Turkiye – a NATO member for over 70 years – for the extradition of a total of 33 terrorists.