Sweden's new premier, Ulf Kristersson, is to hold talks with his Finnish counterpart, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) and President Sauli Niinistö on Friday.
According to a Finnish government announcement, Kristersson and Marin are to discuss issues such as "the countries’ future Nato membership, Russia’s war of aggression, support for Ukraine and topical EU matters".
The statement noted that this is Kristersson’s first bilateral visit abroad since taking office, according to mutual tradition in the two countries.
Marin’s first visit abroad was also to Sweden. In January 2020, she met with then-PM Stefan Löfven, and in December 2021 welcomed his successor, another fellow Social Democrat, Magdalena Andersson to Helsinki.
Talks between the neighbours on their tandem Nato bids come at a pivotal time. Hungary is expected to ratify the applications soon, leaving Turkey as the only holdout, with approval by all 30 members necessary for accession.
HDN: Turkey demands more extraditions
Earlier on Wednesday, pro-government Turkish newspaper Hürriyet Daily News reported that the Turkish government repeated its demand for the extradition of six alleged "terror convicts" from Finland in a meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.
According to the paper, Turkish negotiators "introduced evidence over the extradition cases to the Finnish delegation," adding that the cases involve "terrorists" from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement (FETÖ) "who are believed to reside in Finland". Last month, Finland dismissed Turkish demands to reconsider its rejection of earlier extradition requests, saying that doing so would violate the rule of law and Finland's international commitments.
Ankara has also recently demanded the extradition of nine "terrorists" from Sweden, the paper said.
Stoltenberg to meet with Erdogan
In another development on Wednesday, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said he would go to Turkey "in the near future" to discuss Finland and Sweden's nearly completed process to join the military alliance.
Stoltenberg is to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who earlier this month warned that Ankara would not ratify the two countries' memberships until "the promises" they made were kept.
In June, the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey promising to cooperate on the fight against terrorism.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) told Yle that no changes to Finnish legislation were agreed upon the Madrid memo.
Edited on 28.10 to reflect Sweden's PM Ulf Kristersson was meeting with Finnish leaders on Friday, not Wednesday.