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U.S.-Adriatic Charter members express strong aspirations for NATO membership

DUBROVNIK, May 7 (Hina) - Prime Ministers of Croatia, Macedonia andAlbania who on Sunday met with U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney inDubrovnik expressed "strong aspirations for membership in NATO" andasked the United States to support their countries' membership bid,Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said after the U.S.-AdriaticCharter summit meeting in the souther Croatian coastal resort.
DUBROVNIK, May 7 (Hina) - Prime Ministers of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania who on Sunday met with U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney in Dubrovnik expressed "strong aspirations for membership in NATO" and asked the United States to support their countries' membership bid, Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said after the U.S.-Adriatic Charter summit meeting in the souther Croatian coastal resort.

"All three of us asked for the U.S. support to our countries' admission to NATO and the European Union," Sanader said.

The Dubrovnik meeting pooled Albanian and Macedonian Prime Ministers, Sali Berisha and Vlado Buckovski, beside Croatia's Sanader and the U.S. Vice President.

"We have expressed our expectations that the NATO summit scheduled for this November in Riga will send a clear signal to our countries about when we may become NATO full members," Sanader added.

He described Cheney's arrival in Dubrovnik as great support to Croatia as well as to Macedonia and Albania on their path towards the EU and NATO.

According to Sanader, the three premiers also stressed that their countries appreciated the American presence in southeastern Europe "which was of great help in 1990s" during the Homeland Defence War in Croatia, and the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and during a tense period for Macedonia.

Sanader said that the participants in the Dubrovnik event had also discussed the burning issues in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and the forthcoming referendum on Montenegro's independence.

The Prime Ministers of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania reiterated that their countries were ready to take part in the ani-terrorist coalition and peace missions led by the UN and NATO.

Albania's Sali Berisha said that his country would take part in missions anywhere in the world where NATO and U.S. forces "are defending the freedom and common values" and that Tirana was determined to meet all the requirements for NATO membership.

NATO membership will in the best way reinforce the process of the transformation of this volatile region into a leader of peace and stability, he added.

Macedonia's Vlado Buckovski said that the U.S.-Adriatic Charter "has managed to articulate aspirations of the three countries for NATO membership" and that they could expect in 2008 the invitation to join the alliance.

Asked by reporters whether the U.S. side asked Croatia to increase its engagement in Iraq, Sanader answered in the negative, adding that Croatia would continue to help there as it had done so far.

He recalled that Croatian police instructors were engaged in the training of Iraqi troops in Amman, that Croatian forensic experts were helping their colleagues in Iraq and that Iraqi children were treated in Croatian hospitals.

In addition, 65 Croatian troops are deployed in the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Albania and Macedonia has sent their soldiers to Iraq. The Albanian contingent in Iraq consists of 71 troops and and of 30 troops in Afghanistan. Macedonia has about 100 soldiers in both countries.

Albania and Macedonia have also signed the agreements with Washington on non-extradition of American soldiers to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Croatia has not signed the deal, but Sanader said today in Dubrovnik that Croatia was continuing the talks on the matter.

In this context Sanader said there had been no mention of this issue during Cheney's visit to Dubrovnik.

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