The foreign ministers of Sweden and Turkey will meet "soon" to discuss Stockholm's bid to join NATO.

 This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden on Monday, Reuters reports.

 Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. And while Finland joined the Western military alliance in April, Sweden's bid was held up by objections from Turkey and Hungary.

 Presidential elections in Turkey have complicated this process.

 Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström initially announced on Monday on SVT that he would meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo.

 "But we were informed that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey will not come, so the meeting will not take place," said Bilström's speaker, adding that the meeting will still take place "soon."

 Frictions between Turkey and Sweden have a long history.

 In the past, Sweden has criticized the human rights situation in Turkey and questioned its adherence to democratic standards.

 Turkey says Sweden harbors members of militant groups it considers terrorists and has failed to fulfill its part of a deal struck in Madrid last June to ease Ankara's security concerns.

 Discussions between the two NATO countries broke down during the election.

 "I'm looking forward to being able to shift into a higher gear and speed things up now that we know the outcome of the election," Billström said.

 Billström reiterated that the government hopes that Sweden will become NATO's 32nd member by the time of the Alliance's summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on July 11-12.