U.S. President Joe Biden "fully supports" Sweden's bid to become a NATO member, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in Washington on Wednesday.
"Sweden is going to make our alliance stronger," Biden told reporters ahead of a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and added he was "anxiously looking forward" to Sweden's NATO membership.
Kristersson said his government "highly appreciates" the U.S.' "strong support" for its NATO accession.
"We do seek common protection, but we also do think that we have things to contribute with to be a security provider for the whole of NATO," he said. "I very much look forward to our talks here today."
Kristersson also that the two leaders agreed that the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius was a "natural time" to finalize the Nordic country's bid to join the alliance.
"We both realize that the NATO summit in Vilnius in a week is a very natural time to finish this. But we both also know that only Turkey can make Turkish decisions," Kristersson told reporters at the Swedish embassy in Washington.
Kristersson's visit came one day before NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg convenes a meeting of senior officials from Türkiye, Sweden and Finland in Brussels, concerning Sweden's bid to join the alliance ahead of a NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11 - 12.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the U.S. has encouraged Türkiye and Hungary "to approve Sweden's application for NATO membership as soon as possible."
Sweden has "fulfilled the commitments they made under the trilateral Memorandum of Agreement," she said. "Sweden is a strong capable defense partner that shares NATO's values and will strengthen the alliance and contract and contribute to European security."
Jean-Pierre said it was "important" to have the Swedish prime minister at the White House ahead of the NATO summit.
"The president has been very clear about Sweden becoming a member of NATO. And so we will continue to be outspoken about that and continue to be public about that," she added.
Asked about the burning of Islam's holy book, the Quran, in Sweden last week, Jean-Pierre said: "The burning of the Koran is something that the president would certainly agree is disappointing to see but I'm just not going to get ahead of any conversations."
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched a war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Although Türkiye approved Finland's membership, it is waiting for Sweden to abide by a trilateral memorandum signed last June in Madrid to address Ankara's security concerns on terrorism.
Hungary said it postponed Sweden's NATO accession bid to its autumn legislation.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that Sweden's legal amendments have been a positive step but the fact that the country still allows pro-PKK/YPG terrorists to hold demonstrations and spread propaganda invalidates its efforts.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it is not clear from a strategic and security perspective whether Sweden’s NATO membership would be beneficial to the alliance or be a burden.
To join NATO, Sweden needs the approval of all of its current members, including Türkiye, which has been in the alliance for over 70 years and boasts its second-largest army.
