On Thursday, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after completing all the formalities for its integration into the military organization, with Hungary depositing the accession protocol in Washington.
The Hungarian Ambassador to the United States today delivered to the State Department in Washington official documents certifying Sweden's accession to NATO, which was recently approved by the Hungarian Parliament, allowing the Swedish government to provide an access tool to the head of North American diplomacy.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó announced: “Today I have instructed our country’s ambassador in Washington to hand over the instrument of ratification, after Hungary has completed all its tasks for Sweden’s accession to NATO.”
This ends what should have been a “straightforward” process, but took 22 months due to the reluctance of Turkey and Hungary to have Sweden join.
Swedish Prime Minister Olk Kristersson and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom traveled to Washington on Wednesday to deposit the NATO membership protocol with the Foreign Ministry.
