Canadian President Trudeau welcomes Finland's accession to NATO

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a ceremony held yesterday that they welcome Finland's official accession to NATO as the 31st member.

Making an assessment on the subject, Trudeau said in a statement that Canada was the first country to ratify Finland's Accession Protocol and that they were looking forward to working more closely with Finland and all its allies.

'CORNERSTONE OF TRANSATLANTIC PEACE'

According to the news in Anadolu, Trudeau said NATO is "a cornerstone of transatlantic peace" in the face of violence, authoritarianism and threats to democracy, including Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Stating that he welcomes Finland's participation in the alliance, Trudeau added that Finland's membership strengthens NATO and they support Sweden's membership.

FINLAND'S MEMBERSHIP PROCESS

Finland applied for NATO membership with Sweden on May 18, 2022. At the Madrid Summit held on 28-30 June 2022, a Triple Memorandum was signed between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden. The two countries were invited to join NATO at the summit.

After the summit, most NATO countries started the approval process for the membership of the two countries. 20 NATO countries completed the ratification process in their parliaments in July, 4 in August, and 4 in September.

Finally, on 27 March, the Hungarian Parliament approved Finland's membership. The approval in the Turkish Grand National Assembly was also obtained on 30 March. Following the completion of the official procedure, Finland officially became a member of the alliance on April 4, 2023, the 74th anniversary of NATO's founding.

Thus, Finland's NATO membership process was completed in less than a year.