V-10 AMBASSADORS SPEAK ABOUT NATO ENLARGEMENT BEFORE CONGRESS

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Hina) - Ambassadors from ten member-countries of the Vilnius Group (V-10) spoke on Wednesday before the US Congress Sub-Committee on Europe about their countries' plans regarding admission to NATO. #L# Croatian Ambassador Ivan Grdesic said that Croatia was ready to defend common values and that it had a strong army, with war experience, as well as that it was willing to participate in peace operations across the world and could contribute to strengthening NATO's south wing. Croatia's membership in NATO would be the best contribution to the stability and progress of South-East Europe, he said. Grdesic repeated that each candidate should be evaluated and encouraged individually. Admission to Membership Action Plan at the NATO ministerial meeting in Reykjavik this month will make it possible for Croatia to speed up preparations and be recognised as a good candidate for the next expansion round, Grdesic said. The ambassadors of Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia spoke about their countries' results in drawing closer to NATO and readiness to contribute to the organisation's goals. US congressmen were interested in the countries' attitude towards US-Russia relations and the role of the United States in an enlarged NATO. New York congressman Eliot Engel advocated significant expansion of NATO at a summit to take place in Prague this November, while Earl Hilliard from Alabama warned that a weak NATO would not be of help to anyone. These two opinions reflect differences in America's attitude to NATO's future. George Bush's administration believes that NATO should be expanded as much as possible and include probably seven countries, however, it is also warned that NATO must maintain a high level of military readiness and political stability and should not replace the OSCE, as a US official recently observed. (hina) rml