Ankara and Washington confirmed their willingness to deepen ties and cooperation in the face of ongoing challenges as the Turkish and American top diplomats met Wednesday in New York.

A joint statement issued after a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the top diplomats "intend to deepen bilateral cooperation through constructive and open dialogue as envisioned by the U.S.-Turkey Strategic Mechanism."

"They discussed ways and assessed concrete steps to enhance their cooperation on defense issues, counterterrorism, energy and food security, combatting climate change and boosting trade ties, while agreeing to intensify consultations on a range of regional issues," it said. "They also reiterated their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia’s unacceptable war. Within this framework, the United States and Turkey reaffirmed their support to find a solution to end the war."

Çavuşoğlu said earlier that talks with the U.S. regarding the sale of F-16 jets to Ankara were progressing positively. He referred to a State Department letter to the U.S. Congress which said the delivery of the jets "is not only important for Turkey, but for the U.S."

"I can say that our negotiations and the meetings are going on positively, and the Congress should work on it as well," Çavuşoğlu told reporters.

The Turkish government requested the F-16s and modernization kits in October 2021. The $6 billion deal would include the sale of 40 newly built F-16V fighter jets and modernization kits for 80 F-16 C/D models that the Turkish Air Forces Command has in its inventory.

Commenting on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey's security concerns should be met.

"We also have legitimate security concerns that they have been supporting terrorist organizations," said Çavuşoğlu, adding that another issue was export restrictions on Turkish defense products.

"We already expressed our concerns and I had a candid and direct talk with two colleagues," he said.

Hours later, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan voiced confidence that Turkey's "concerns can be addressed."

"Finland and Sweden are working directly with Turkey to do this, but we're also talking to the Turks to try to help facilitate," Sullivan told reporters at the White House.

"I expect these differences will be settled. I expect that NATO will speak with one voice and support of Finland and Sweden at the end of the day," he added.

Turkey, a longstanding NATO member, has voiced objections to Finland and Sweden's membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terror groups, including the YPG/PKK.

Over the last five years, both Sweden and Finland have failed to agree to Ankara's requests for the extradition of dozens of terrorists, including members of the PKK and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Senior representatives of Sweden and Finland are set to visit Turkey in the coming days to hold official talks in Ankara to discuss their accession processes.