President Sauli Niinistö leads Finnish delegation to NATO summit in Madrid, Spain 28-30 June, accompanied by the Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (green) and Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen (Cen).
Head of Board in Niinistö’s office, Hiski HaukkalaFinland’s Ambassador to NATO Klaus Korhonenand Petri HakkarainenThe delegation will also be accompanied by an adviser to the President on foreign and security policy.
Other members are officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
NATO partner status
Finland is currently a partner of NATO, as its pending application has not yet been processed due to Turkey’s opposition to the accession of Finland and Sweden to the military alliance. This means that Finland does not fall within the scope of Article 5, which guarantees the collective defense of the organization.
Finnish, Swedish and Turkish officials met in Brussels on Monday to discuss Turkey’s security concerns in the Nordic applications for NATO membership. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg described the negotiations between the Finnish, Swedish and Turkish authorities as “constructive”.
Despite this, Haavisto doubted Turkey’s concerns would be resolved before the June NATO summit.
Source: The Nordic Page