NATO new phase in our relationship

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) thanks Finland’s new president Alexander Stubb for having convinced him that Finland would take the step into NATO.

– Alexander helped me read Finland correctly and thus navigate Sweden correctly. I am very grateful for that.

This is what Kristersson says during a joint press meeting on Tuesday with the Finnish president who, according to tradition, is making his first state visit to Sweden.

– Sweden and Finland not only share a common history, we also share a common future, says Kristersson.

During the day, Kristersson and Stubb discussed, among other things, security and defense policy issues – such as support for Ukraine and preparations for the NATO summit in Washington.

Stubb says that he immediately felt that the joint path into the NATO defense alliance would usher in a completely new phase in the relationship between Sweden and Finland.

– Of course, our relationship was always close, but the fact that we saw that we were on the way to NATO membership meant that we also had to start building on the integration of our defenses within NATO.

The countries’ NATO membership gives added value to the defense alliance on the ground, in the air and at sea, according to Stubb.

– Now we have an enormous responsibility. We are a kind of “front line state” for NATO in that we have doubled NATO’s border with Russia through Finland’s membership.