Representatives of Turkey, Finland and Sweden agreed to continue meeting in the coming months to discuss the security issues that Turkey has raised as a precondition for its approval of the countries' accession to NATO. This is reported by Reuters.

 Officials from the three countries held their first meeting on Friday in the city of Vantaa in southern Finland.

 Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the meeting was aimed at establishing contacts and defining the goals of cooperation that the countries agreed upon when they signed a memorandum of understanding at the Madrid NATO summit in June.

 "Participants discussed specific steps for the implementation of the Tripartite Memorandum and agreed that the mechanism will continue to meet at the expert level throughout the fall," the Finnish Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

 The Turkish president's office said that the parties agreed to intensify cooperation and fight terrorism.

 "Finland and Sweden will show full solidarity and cooperation with Turkey in the fight against all forms and manifestations of terrorism... (and) they have confirmed their commitment not to provide support to these organizations," the statement said.