The Turkish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee will discuss the bill to approve Sweden’s NATO membership on Thursday, according to the committee’s official agenda.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted the bill to parliament for ratification three weeks ago, in a move welcomed by NATO and Stockholm. Turkey had initially raised objections because it claims that Sweden provides sanctuary to organizations that Ankara considers terrorist.

The bill must be approved by the parliament’s Foreign Affairs committee before it can be put to a vote in the full body. It will then become law with Erdogan’s signature.

While he says Ankara expects more from Sweden in fighting Kurdish militants, Erdogan said this month he would try to facilitate ratification as much as possible.

NATO foreign ministers will meet on November 28 and 29 in Brussels.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO to bolster their security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s accession was sealed in April, but Sweden’s accession has so far been blocked by Turkey and Hungary

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Sweden today welcomed the decision of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the bill to approve the Nordic country’s NATO membership the day after tomorrow, Thursday.

“This is welcome information,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström wrote in a message to Reuters.

“Sweden expects to become a member of NATO”.