ATHENS

 Hungary has invited Sweden to negotiate on Stockholm’s NATO accession bid, the Hungarian prime minister said on Tuesday.

“Today I sent an invitation letter to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession,” Victor Orban said on X.

Swedish public broadcaster, SVT, later announced that Orban said in the letter that the "Bilateral relationship between the two countries is particularly important in times of uncertainty in Europe.

"A more intensive political dialogue could help to strengthen the mutual trust between our countries and institutions and thereby strengthen our political and security policy agreements," he added.

Commenting on the matter, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said: "It is a letter that is kept in a good tone and we naturally have reason to reflect on this," according to SVT.

Asked if he or the prime minister will accept the invitation and to Hungary, he responded: "We must first think through what this letter signals."

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022, abandoning their longstanding non-alignment policies, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, which started in February that year.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia, became a member of NATO on April 4, 2023, bringing the number of member states to 31.

Sweden’s membership, however, is still pending ratification by member countries Türkiye and Hungary.

Turkish officials have repeatedly stressed that it is up to Turkish lawmakers to decide to ratify Sweden’s accession or not.