Turkey lifted the veto on the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO

Tonight, Turkey lifted the veto for the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO, the Alliance and those three countries announced.

"I am pleased to say that we have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO" and that addresses "Turkey's concerns about arms exports and the fight against terrorism," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

The NATO countries will therefore be able to officially "invite" the two Nordic countries to join the Alliance tomorrow, Stoltenberg added, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

The agreement, which was first confirmed by the Finnish presidency, followed several hours of talks at the congress center in Madrid, where the Alliance summit is being held.

The Turkish agency Anadolia announced during the day that Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum on the process of joining Sweden and Finland to NATO.

The memorandum was signed by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu and his colleagues from Finland and Sweden, Pekka Havisto and Ana Linde.

The signing was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Ninisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson.