Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) welcomed Sweden's approval as the 32nd member of Nato on Monday evening.
Niinistö, who is in his final week in office before the inauguration of president-elect Alexander Stubb, congratulated the neighbouring country's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, in a social media post written in Swedish.
"Now Hungary, as the last member country, has also ratified Sweden's Nato application. We look forward to bringing our neighbour into the alliance. This will also complete our own membership," Niinistö wrote, adding "Congratulations!"
Simultaneously, Orpo posted a trilingual message, saying: "Grattis Sverige! Congratulations Sweden! Välkommen till Nato. Together we are stronger. Yhdessä olemme vahvempia. Tillsammans är vi starkare," followed by the Swedish and Finnish flags.
After a long tradition of non-alignment, the two countries joined Nato's Partnership for Peace in 1994, later being designated as 'Enhanced Opportunity Partners'.
In May 2022, they applied together to join the US-led alliance.
Finland joined last April, but Sweden's application was held up for a variety of reasons by Turkey and then Hungary. Nato membership requires unanimous approval from all member states.
Hungary's parliament approved Sweden's Nato accession on Monday by a vote of 188-6 after months of delays.
The vote followed a visit by Kristersson on Friday during which the two countries signed an arms deal. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government has faced pressure from Nato allies to fall in line and seal Sweden's accession to the alliance.
Sweden is the last of the five Nordic countries to join the alliance. Denmark, Iceland and Norway were charter members when Nato was founded in 1949.
Sweden also becomes the last country bordering the Baltic Sea to join Nato – besides Russia.
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