Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde announced on Wednesday that a delegation from the country's Interior Ministry will go to Türkiye for NATO talks next week.
Linde told TT, the country's official news agency, that negotiations with Türkiye are continuing without any problems.
Noting that Sweden expects Türkiye will approve its NATO membership, Linde said, "However, I do not know when Türkiye will approve it. Last week, at the United Nations meeting in New York, I met with my Turkish counterpart (Mevlüt) Çavuşoğlu. We reviewed the negotiations, everything is going well. We're keeping the agreement."
Linde's announcement came after Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said that a delegation from Sweden will visit Türkiye on Oct. 5-6 to discuss the issue of the extradition of criminals.
A tripartite memorandum was signed by Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden at the NATO Madrid summit on June 28 before the first meeting of the permanent joint mechanism established within the memorandum's framework was held on Aug. 26 in Vantaa, Finland.
The two Nordic countries applied to join the security alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine but faced opposition from Türkiye, which accuses them of imposing arms embargoes on Ankara and supporting groups it deems terrorists.
Türkiye lifted its veto during a NATO summit in June in return for what it said were concrete gains on the issue. But Ankara has since said the Nordic countries have not taken the desired steps.
The three countries signed an accord to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for counterterrorism promises, but Türkiye has said it will block the membership bids if pledges are not kept. It has sought the extradition of 73 people from Sweden and a dozen others from Finland.
