NATO EXPECTS HELP FROM PARTNER COUNTRIES

SOFIA, Oct 5 (Hina) - NATO expects Partnership for Peace countries to make their resources available if so requested within the global fight against terrorism, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in Sofia on Friday. We expect Partnership for Peace countries to offer their resources, Robertson said, adding NATO did not have any specific requests for the time being, but would forward them when necessary. The NATO Secretary-General made the statement at a news conference held at a summit of a group of 10 countries aspiring to join NATO, called the Vilnius Group (V-10). Robertson said the meeting was an occasion to reiterate the message of solidarity and condolence to the United States as well as to stress that the process of NATO expansion will not be hostage to terrorism. Integration processes will continue without interruption, he said. Robertson said Afghanistan was "a black hole" and a haven for terrorists because it was not organised as a state. For this reason, NATO is engaged in South-East Europe - to prevent the black hole from spreading to NATO's threshold. NATO and the international community must make their cooperation closer in order to be able to deal with the danger of terrorism successfully, he said. In a message forwarded to the participants of the summit, US President George Bush said his country supported admission to NATO of all new democracies which shared the values of the allies and were willing to contribute to the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic region. The US president says his country is ready to suggest countries which should join NATO at the next NATO summit in Prague in November 2002. Speaking about the recent terrorist attacks, Bush said his country appreciated very much the support offered by the governments and peoples of the V-10 group after the tragic events. (hina) rml