Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store underscored the historic nature of the NATO summit in Vilnius in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"For the first time in history the entire Nordic region will be inside NATO," he said Tuesday, following Turkey's agreement to back Sweden's bid to join the alliance.

"That has profound positive implications for the way we plan our security, our defense, and how we contribute positively to NATO," he told journalists upon arrival for the summit. 

How we got here: Norway was one of the 12 founding members of NATO in 1949, along with Iceland and Denmark.

More than 70 years later, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, neighboring Nordic countries Finland and Sweden also applied to join the alliance.

Finland became NATO's 31st member in April of this year — greatly expanding the alliance's border with Russia — but Sweden's membership bid was long frustrated by Turkey, which refused to green-light its application due to what it claimed was Sweden's soft stance on Kurdish terror groups and it permitting anti-Islamic protests.

The day before the Vilnius summit was set to start, Sweden's membership prospects were still uncertain. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday even tabled a bargain of sorts, claiming that Turkey would only "clear the way" for Sweden to join NATO if Brussels would "clear the way" for Turkey to join the European Union.

However, after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later Monday, Turkey finally agreed to permit Sweden's accession to the alliance.

Hungarian President Katalin Novák also said on Tuesday that she welcomes Turkey’s decision to support Sweden’s accession to NATO.

Hungary has also objected to the possibility of Sweden joining NATO in the past. Late last month, Hungary’s leading political party Fidesz told CNN that it expected Sweden to “allay its concerns” before the country voted on Sweden’s accession into NATO.

“In recent years, Swedish government figures have regularly insulted Hungarian voters and Hungary as a whole,” Fidesz’s press office told CNN. “It is objectionable to bring disputes between countries into NATO, so we expect those involved to allay the concerns of the Hungarian parliament, so that we can vote for their accession with the largest possible majority.”

CNN's Catherine Nicholls contributed reporting to this post.