Big day for Finland

Finland was officially accepted as 31st member of the Nato military alliance, completing the fastest accession process in the organisation's history.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed the final formalities of Finland's accession to Nato in front of the media at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

"I'm delighted to report that just a few moments ago, Turkey deposited with me, on behalf of the United States, Turkey's ratification of the instrument for Finland's accession to Nato, and with the receipt and submission of that protocol, I can say that the protocol is now in force," Blinken said.

Stoltenberg then handed over the formal invitation, on behalf of all member states, to foreign minister Haavisto for Finland to become a member of Nato. In turn, Haavisto deposited Finland's instrument of accession with Secretary of State Blinken.

"With receipt of this instrument of accession, we can now declare that Finland is the 31st member of the North Atlantic treaty," Blinken confirmed.

After a shaking of hands between the three men, Haavisto announced Finland's first act as a Nato member.

"Since we are now a member of Nato, we have a very important task. The task is to give to you for the deposit our ratification of Swedish membership. This is our first act as a member state," Haavisto said.



I had  a pit stop in Pispala on the way home after water exercise.
Worked with Fine Art Photography Production course's report all night and returned it 9 minutes before the deadline at 23:51.


-14,2 °C, sunny