By Janet Ekstract
İSTANBUL- Ahead of the final day of the NATO Summit in Madrid, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg spoke at an early morning press conference where he outlined topics that will be discussed and said the bloc will be announcing Finland and Sweden’s NATO candidacy later on Wednesday.
Stoltenberg highlighted that an agreement on a new ‘Strategic Alliance’ for NATO would be finalized. He said it will acknowledge a new world order, state that Russia is a threat to peace but does include China going forward- though Stoltenberg warned about China’s increasing adversarial stance in the global world order and cautioned about its extensive military expansion.
The NATO chief added that numerous other issues are on the agenda on Wednesday, including climate crises, the global economic situation and top priority Ukraine, where additional financial assistance to the war-torn country is expected to be announced.
Meanwhile, Turkish media reported earlier on Wednesday, that Turkish President Erdogan and U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a meeting at 6:45 pm. The meeting is expected to focus on strategic issues and Erdogan’s security concerns regarding Türkiye. Erdogan dropped his objections to Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids and signed a tripartite memorandum with Finland and Sweden. Stoltenberg said the agreement will “extend security.” The memorandum includes guarantees to combat the PKK, terrorists and open the way for Türkiye to receive arms from those countries.
