Today President Biden signed the United States Instruments of Ratification of the Protocols of Accession to the North Atlantic Treaty for the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden, which the Senate of – The United States approved on August 3. We celebrate this historic moment, which highlights the commitment of the United States. for our shared Transatlantic security.
We are pleased with the rapid progress towards Finland and Sweden becoming NATO Allies. There is strong Allied and bipartisan support for the membership applications of Finland and Sweden, and we look forward to quickly ushering them into the strongest defensive Alliance in history. We appreciate the swift action of all Allies who have already ratified the accession protocols and urge everyone to complete the process soon so that Finland and Sweden can accede to the Atlantic Treaty -Northern and join the NATO Alliance.
It is worth repeating at this historic moment that the commitment of the United States to our NATO Allies and Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is ironclad. The Allies are united in their shared mission to defend the Euro-Atlantic community, deter aggression, project stability, and uphold the NATO values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law. right We also remain fully committed to NATO’s Open Door policy and to further strengthening our bilateral cooperation in defense and security.
