RIGA BEGINS RIGA, July 5 (Hina) - Membership in NATO is not a purpose in itself, but a way to make future sustainable development possible for all countries of the Vilnius Group, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Bezrinsh said on Friday,
opening a meeting of the prime ministers of 10 countries aspiring to join NATO, dubbed "Bridge to Prague" in Riga.
RIGA, July 5 (Hina) - Membership in NATO is not a purpose in itself,
but a way to make future sustainable development possible for all
countries of the Vilnius Group, Latvian Prime Minister Andris
Bezrinsh said on Friday, opening a meeting of the prime ministers of
10 countries aspiring to join NATO, dubbed "Bridge to Prague" in
Riga. #L#
The summit in Latvia's capital will be the final official gathering
of the V-10 group ahead of the Prague summit.
V-9 was established two years ago as an interest group which in May
2000 issued a joint statement expressing readiness for complete
adjustment to NATO standards, and a wish to access NATO as a group at
the Prague summit, to be held in four months.
This is also the first meeting of the V-10 with Croatia
participating with the same status as that of other participants,
after it was admitted to the Membership Action Plan in May, thus
fulfilling the formal conditions for submitting its application
for full NATO membership.
After November, the Vilnius Group will probably be dissolved or
significantly reorganised, since it is almost certain that
Slovakia and Slovenia will join NATO in Prague, as will Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania.
Bulgaria and Rumania do have a chance of joining, although to a
somewhat lesser extent than above mentioned countries.
It is almost certain that Croatia, Albania and Macedonia will not
receive invitations to join NATO in Prague.
If the estimates of analysts and sources close to NATO become a
reality, the Alliance will, for the first time in its history,
extend to the border with Russia which, considering the positive
trend in its relations with NATO lately, will probably not protest
too much.
Opening the Riga summit, Premier Berzinsh said that countries of
the Vilnius Group did not wait for their western partners to assist
them in becoming European countries in the full sense of the word,
but realised that they had to secure the highest standards for their
citizens themselves.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga addressed the participants
of the summit, saying that the Vilnius Group had achieved an envious
level of cohesion and solidarity among member countries, for which
they had received commendation from all NATO countries.
NATO has had several expansions in the past, and each was
successful, Vike-Freiberga said, recalling that the Czech
Republic, Poland and Hungary, the last countries to join the
Alliance three years ago, had dramatically improved their
relations with Russia thanks to the membership.
She said she was convinced that the presence of a large number of
advanced, stable and secure NATO and EU members on Russia's western
borders would eventually be in the interest of the country.
Participants in the summit were also addressed by British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and American President George Bush via
television.
Blair pointed out that Great Britain advocated as wide an expansion
of NATO as possible as well as a closer cooperation in modernising
the defence abilities of the current and future member countries,
considering new security threats, such as terrorism.
George W. Bush said that V-10 countries had in the past two years
made great progress in key reforms necessary for NATO membership.
Bush said NATO would make a big step at the Prague summit by
expanding to all European democratic countries ready to
participate in sharing the Alliance's responsibilities.
He added that NATO had to prepare for a battle and victory over
terrorism.
The Prague summit will mark the beginning of a new era in European
and transatlantic relations, which will be marked with a higher
degree of security, more progress and greater freedom, Bush
concluded.
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