At the fifth meeting of the US-Adriatic Charter, held in the State Department, the Croatian Foreign Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic and her counterparts from Albania and Macedonia, Besnik Mustafaj and Ilinka Mitreva, and Under Secretary Burns, discussed progress the three countries had made in the Action Plan for NATO membership.
All three countries have made very good progress, said the Department of State"s third ranking official, adding that the US was satisfied with the progress.
All three countries expect the US to support their admission into NATO as soon as possible. Croatia hopes to get invited to join the Alliance in 2008 at the latest, and expects to receive signals at the NATO summit in Riga in November.
Asked when the three countries could be invited to join NATO, Burns said the Alliance had not yet made the decision about which new countries to invite to join.
Croatian Minister Grabar Kitarovic said that "taking into account our individual achievements in meeting standards and criteria for NATO, Southeast Europe deserves a clear signal for joining NATO".
Stressing that the US supports the process of NATO enlargement, Burns expressed hope that further progress could be made in the next two years.
Speaking about expectations from Croatia, Albania and Macedonia on the path to NATO, Burns said the US expected the three countries to continue to strengthen democracy and fight corruption.
He said the US wanted to see the three countries' stronger involvement in NATO missions. Commenting on Croatia's aspirations to join NATO, Burns said that by arresting an ICTY indictee, General Ante Gotovina, Croatia had made a great step forward.
He thanked the Croatian Government on the country's military involvement in peace missions in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led ISAF mission He added that the US-Croatia relations were strengthening.
Grabar Kitarovic said that today's meeting was the confirmation of the dedication of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia to join NATO as soon as possible and the US support to the US-Adriatic Charter and Euro-Atlantic integration of the region.
She said Croatia planned to organise an Adriatic-Baltic-Atlantic meeting on the northern Adriatic archipelago of Brijuni at the end of April which would focus on assisting the three countries in meeting criteria for NATO membership. The meeting would be attended by members of the Charter, including the US and three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - that already joined NATO.
The meeting in Washington was also attended by representatives of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro which want to cooperate with the Charter so as to accelerate their own joining NATO.
The participants in the meeting in the State Department briefly met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.