By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL-NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg held an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway on Thursday that Stoltenberg said was an “opportunity to discuss key issues as we prepare for our summit in Vilnius in July.” The focus of the meeting as Stoltenberg emphasized was “on how we can bring Ukraine closer to NATO, where it belongs,” he said. The NATO chief added that the Alliance is formulating a multi-year package of support for Ukraine with what Stoltenberg said is solid funding. Foreign ministers discussed upgrading the current NATO-Ukraine Commission to a new NATO-Ukraine Council. Stoltenberg commented; “This would be a significant step, to establish a joint consultative forum with Ukraine, sitting at the table as equals to discuss key issues for our security.”
Stoltenberg made it clear that NATO’s door is open and any decisions on membership are strictly for Allies and Ukraine to decide. As he remarked: “We don’t know when the war ends,” he said, “but we must ensure that, when it does, we have credible arrangements in place to guarantee Ukraine’s security in the future, and to break Russia’s cycle of aggression.”
The capital of Lithuania will be the site of the next major NATO Summit from July11-12 with Ukraine’s President Zelensky set to attend as well. Stoltenberg explained that the bulk of the summit will be about making decisions related to deterrence and defense that will involve strengthening those two areas. He also said another goal of the summit is to create deeper partnerships with “partners in the Indo-Pacific region.” Another major issue Stoltenberg discussed was Sweden’s accession to NATO which he said should be accomplished as soon as possible and will make a trip to Turkiye in the coming weeks. He lauded Sweden’s new anti-terrorism laws that took effect on June 1, commenting: “That shows that Sweden has delivered on what they committed to do under the Trilateral Memorandum concluded last year in Madrid. And demonstrates that Sweden’s swift accession will contribute to Alliance security.”
