SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Biden to travel to UK, NATO summit, Finland
Washington, July 2 (AFP) Jul 02, 2023
US President Joe Biden will head to Europe in a week's time for a visit to Britain, the NATO summit, and talks in Finland with other Nordic leaders, the White House said Sunday.

Biden is set to depart on July 9 for Britain, and then head on to Lithuania's capital Vilnius for the meeting of NATO leaders, followed by a one-day visit to Helsinki, the White House said in a statement.

The NATO summit comes as the Western military alliance seeks to admit Sweden, whose membership bid has been blocked by Turkey and Hungary, and as Ukraine intensifies its campaign to join amid Russia's invasion.

Finland became a full member of the bloc earlier this year.

Before heading to Europe, Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the White House on Wednesday to discuss Stockholm's NATO ambitions.

Sweden asked to join the military alliance in May 2022, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Top diplomats from Turkey and Sweden will meet on Thursday, the day after Kristersson's White House visit, at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Turkey ultimately dropped objections to Finland joining earlier in the year.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week denounced Stockholm for allowing a protest during which a man burned pages from the Koran, further clouding Sweden's prospects.

Western allies and Stockholm have insisted that Sweden has met the terms of a deal to join the alliance agreed to with Ankara last year.


- Ukraine's NATO push -


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he wanted his country to receive an "invitation" at the Vilnius summit to join NATO once the war with Moscow is over.

"We need a very clear and understandable signal at the Vilnius summit that Ukraine can become an equal member of NATO after the war," he told reporters in Kyiv alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

"This invitation to the alliance is the first, very practical step, it would be very important for us."

The stop in London will offer the veteran Democrat a chance to meet with King Charles III for the first time since the monarch's coronation, as well as hold more talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a month after his Washington visit.

Biden will seek to "further strengthen the close relationship" with Britain, the White House said, adding that more details about the trip will be announced soon.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
SPHEREx completes first full sky infrared map of the cosmos
CoDICE instrument returns first-light particle data for IMAP mission
Top 5 High Volatility Games For 2026 Chase The Biggest Jackpots Today

24/7 Energy News Coverage
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
Physicists map axion production paths inside deuterium tritium fusion reactors
Hybrid excitons speed ultrafast energy transfer at 2D organic interface

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Climate driven model explores Neanderthal and modern human overlap in Iberia
Economic losses from natural disasters down by a third in 2025: Swiss Re



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.