Finland officially becomes NATO’s 31st member

After Turkey handed over the document confirming Finland’s NATO membership to the United States, Finland became the 31st member of NATO. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met as part of a Meeting of Foreign Ministers held at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

During the meeting, Turkey delivered the document confirming Finland’s NATO membership to the United States, the custodian of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949.

Cavusoglu shared following on Twitter about the meeting; “We discussed our relations with the US Secretary of State. We have delivered Finland’s NATO accession approval document to the United States, which keeps its membership documents in accordance with the NATO Founding Treaty.”

Later, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto got together.

Blinken, in his speech at this time, reported that he was pleased to inform that Turkey had delivered the approval document to him, on behalf of the United States.

Haavisto also conveyed to Blinken the certificate of approval received from Turkey regarding his country’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty. Stoltenberg, on the other hand, related to the issue saying “Thus Finland is the 31st member of NATO. We can declare it as a member.”