Saturday, April 4, 2009

ALBANIA, CROATIA IN NATO

Former Communist countries Albania and Croatia were formally welcomed on Saturday (4 April) as NATO's newest members. Macedonia's membership, however, is still pending due to a name dispute with Greece, while Georgia and Ukraine's accession perspectives look distant.

"You have very well earned your place at the table," outgoing NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Albanian and Croatian delegations at the opening of the NATO council on Saturday morning in Strasbourg.

Mr Scheffer said that the move is testimony to the countries' long years of reforms and a proof of the "open-door policy" of NATO enlargement. US President Barack Obama, himself for the first time at a NATO summit, thanked the pair for sending 140 Albanian and 296 Croatian troops to Afghanistan - a considerable contribution for the two small Balkan states of 3 and 4.5 million people, respectively.

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