The head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the Vilnius Summit was “already historic” before it began, due to the agreement between Turkey and Sweden.

“The most important message at this Summit has already happened before it even started. Sweden will become a full member of the alliance. This is good for Sweden, good for Turkey, and good for the Baltic region,” said Jens Stoltenberg during his opening speech at the NATO Forum.

Sweden’s accession to NATO after Finland is one of the main agenda items of the summit. As Stoltenberg announced a day before the summit, Turkey agreed to send Sweden’s NATO Accession Protocol to the national assembly after a tripartite meeting between him, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson.

“Sweden has today agreed, as a member of the EU, to also actively support efforts to revitalizing Turkey’s EU accession process and also to help modernize the EU-Turkey customs union and visa liberalization,” he said.

In response to a question, Stoltenberg said he would “he welcomed every step between the US and Turkey regarding F-16 fighter jets,” however, he argued, the issue “it wasn’t part of yesterday’s deal.”

“We must stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he reiterated, adding that it will be a clear message from this summit.

He said he was confident the allies would take “strong and united” decisions on Ukraine – both to support and strengthen their support.

“I am also sure that on the issue of accession, the allies will confirm that Ukraine will become a member”he added.

On cluster bombs, he said: “We have to understand that they have been used by both sides in this war. The difference is that Russia uses cluster bombs to invade and occupy another country, while Ukraine uses them to defend itself against Russian aggression.”