Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was pleased with how quickly Finland and Sweden were becoming NATO Allies.
He said their membership applications had strong Allied and bipartisanship support at the signing by President Joe Biden of the U.S. Instruments of Ratification of the Accession Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty, according to an Aug. 9 State Department news release.
“We celebrate this historic moment, which underscores the U.S. commitment to our shared Transatlantic security,” Blinken said in the release.
He thanked other allies who took swift action to ratify the accession protocols and encouraged all NATO members to complete the process in bringing Finland and Sweden into the NATO Alliance, the release said.
“It bears repeating at this historic moment that the U.S. commitment to our NATO Allies and Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is ironclad,” Blinken said, according to the release.
The Allies share a mission to defend the Euro-Atlanta community and are united in deterring aggression, upholding values of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. The nation members are committed to NATO’s Open Door policy and want to further strengthen bilateral defense and security cooperation, he said, the release reported.
