MEETING OF VILNIUS GROUP PRIME MINISTERS ENDS IN RIGA

RIGA, July 6 (Hina) - A meeting of the prime ministers of ten countries aspiring to join NATO, gathered in the so-called Vilnius Group, ended in Riga on Saturday, after the adoption of a final declaration. #L# In the declaration, the Vilnius Group members expressed belief that all countries which ended preparations should be invited to join NATO at a summit in Prague. The summit in Latvia's capital was 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. The Vilnius Group was established by Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia. Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Croatia joined the group in May 2002. 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. In the Riga declaration, the Vilnius Group prime ministers reiterated that the meeting was organised to assess the level of readiness and establish progress that each country made in the process of adjusting to NATO standards. In the declaration, the prime ministers also expressed hope that decisions would be adopted at the summits in Prague and Copenhagen which would form Europe's future and that all countries which ended the process of preparations would be invited to join NATO. They also hailed the establishment of new relations between NATO and Russia. (hina) it