NATO chief soon to send letters of invitation to Croatia and Albania to join alliance

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has been notified by the US State Department that all NATO member states have deposited their ratification instruments in Washington, and he will soon send a letter of invitation to Croatia and Albania to join the alliance, NATO's public relations office told Hina in Brussels on Monday.

Earlier in the day, de Hoop Scheffer told Croatian Television (HRT) that it would be a privilege for him to write a formal letter of invitation and that he would do so as soon as he received an official notification from the US State Department as the depository of the North Atlantic Treaty.
After the NATO Secretary General officially invites Albania and Croatia to join, the two countries are to deposit their ratification instruments in the US State Department, as of which moment they will become full members of the alliance.

The Croatian Parliament ratified the North Atlantic Treaty on 25 March and is now awaiting a formal invitation from the NATO Secretary General.

A US State Department spokeswoman said on Monday that the ambassadors of Croatia and Albania would be invited to the State Department most likely on Tuesday or Wednesday to deposit the accession instruments ratified by their parliaments.