“Mr. President, it’s good to see you again — delighted to be with you.  And, you know, we’re at this historic summit meeting.  We’re resolving a lot of things, I hope,” said Biden, according to a script of the meeting published by the White House.

“And you made — you made all the more historic by the agreement you reached yesterday in the admission of Sweden and how you’re going to proceed.  I want to thank you for your diplomacy and your courage to take that on.  And I want to thank you for your leadership, Mr. President,” Biden added.

Following the meeting with Erdoğan, Biden took to Twitter to say: “It was great sitting down with President Erdogan once again today in Lithuania for a NATO summit made even more historic by Turkiye’s agreement on the admission of Sweden.”

Turkish President promised to send accession documents to Turkey's parliament for ratification as soon as possible after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also welcomed Erdogan's decision, saying that it was "a historic day for Sweden and for NATO."

The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO would be a major boost to the alliance, which is facing increased threats from Russia. The two countries have long been neutral, but they applied to join NATO in May after Russia invaded Ukraine. (ILKHA)