Ankara, 9 November 2022 (TDI): The President of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson during his official visit to Turkiye. The two leaders deliberated upon issues pertaining to mutual interests.
Following the meeting, the two leaders also held a joint press conference at the Presidential Complex in the country.
Discussion at the Press Conference
Besides the bilateral cooperation, issues of the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the Turkiye-European Union (EU) relations were also a part of the discussion. President Erdogan said that “Sweden’s NATO membership application was high on the agenda of our talks.”
Furthermore, he added that Turkiye has consistently backed NATO’s policy of open doors. In reality, Turkiye approved the beginning of Sweden and Finland’s admittance negotiations with this strategy.
As stated in Trilateral Memorandum, an important element to fight terror is full cooperation and solidarity. In this regard, President Erdogan stated his satisfaction with the Swedish government’s commitment to executing the Trilateral Memorandum.
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Similarly, the removal of the sanctions imposed on the defense industry and the start of export authorizations were also appreciated by the President of Turkiye.
Likewise, President Erdogan expressed his hopes of Sweden joining NATO after the implementation of the Trilateral Memorandum. Thus, adding the alliance element to their bilateral relations.
Moreover, Recep Tayyip Erdogan shared positive views regarding the second meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism which will be held in Stockholm.
This meeting will be organized to ensure the execution of the terms mentioned in the Trilateral Memorandum along with including Finland.
Lastly, President Erdogan expressed his views regarding increasing their bilateral cooperation with Sweden in every field including tourism and defense.
He stated that their bilateral trade volume reached a new milestone of 3.7 billion dollars and said that they aim to raise this amount to $5 billion as quickly as possible given their potential.
