The Ministry of Defence states that Defence Minister Pål Jonson and Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin received a congressional delegation from the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday. The congressional delegation consisted of both Republican and Democratic members and was led by delegation leader Sam Graves. The purpose of the visit was to assure the strong support of Congress for Sweden's accession to NATO.
The visit to Stockholm was the delegation's final stop during a trip to Europe as part of their work in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The main purpose of the visit to Sweden was to assure the continued strong and bipartisan support of the American Congress for Sweden's accession to NATO and to emphasise the importance of the ratification of Sweden's accession protocol in the near future. After the meeting with the ministers, a joint press briefing was held.
The Ministry of Defence states that the congressional delegation is the fifth since May 2022 to visit Sweden to express the American Congress's support for Sweden's accession to NATO. In connection with the NATO summit in Madrid in July 2022, three American congressional delegations consisting of senators and House representatives visited Stockholm for meetings with the then government and the Riksdag. On 4 August 2022, the US Senate voted with an overwhelming majority to ratify Sweden's accession protocol to NATO. Sweden's accession to NATO has broad bipartisan support in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.
During their stay in Stockholm, the members also visited Arlanda's remote air traffic control centre together with Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson.