1) Macedonia 2) Montenegro 3) Bosnia 4) Serbia
1) http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2010/01/17/nb-06 Southeast European Times January 17, 2010 Rasmussen: NATO door still open for Macedonia BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday (January 15th) that Macedonia should continue with reforms aimed at NATO entry, expressing confidence that these efforts will end in success. At a meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, Rasmussen said Skopje's accession to NATO also depends on the settlement of its name dispute with Greece. He added that the faster this issue is resolved, the faster Macedonia will become part of the Alliance. Rasmussen called for intensified talks on the issue and welcomed efforts by UN envoy Matthew Nimetz to broker an agreement. In response, Gruevski said his country is "trying to find a solution which would be acceptable to both sides". (Macedonian government website, Xinhua - 15/01/10) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hfJbqZvxYgj_ihyFY36Gn_D4aWbg Agence France-Presse January 20, 2010 US backs Montenegro's bid to join NATO WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday threw US support behind Montenegro's bid to join NATO as the Balkan country pursues political reforms. The chief US diplomat "pledged the United States? support for Montenegro becoming an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic community" as she stood next to visiting Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. "I offered the support of the United States as Montenegro makes some of the reforms in the rule of law area that both NATO and the European Union are looking to see," Clinton told reporters in Washington. She congratulated Montenegro for its admission last month to NATO's Membership Action Plan, a precursor to full membership, and thanked the premier for his government's commitment to sending infantry troops to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. Clinton said she hoped to take the prime minister up on his invitation to visit Montenegro at a future date. Djukanovic said: "I would like to announce with confidence that Montenegro will be the next state to become a new member of NATO" while voicing his government's intention to enhance the rule of law. "We stand committed to doing this in order to improve the quality of life of our citizens and achieve our European and Euro-Atlantic goals ... as early, as soon as possible," he said through an interpreter. "I would like to reiterate on this occasion too that Montenegro is and will remain a responsible and reliable partner to the US and EU in dealing with the still outstanding issues in the Balkans," he said. "And we will also work closely with our partners in other places beyond our region, starting with Afghanistan," he added. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-198699-102-davutoglu-seeks-bosnian-stability-in-balkan-talks.html Zaman January 16, 2010 Davutoglu seeks Bosnian stability in Balkan talks Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with Bosnian and Serbian officials in Belgrade on Friday to discuss ways to preserve political stability and unity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a day after having similar talks in Croatia. .... Ankara...backs NATO membership for Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying international isolation could exacerbate the instability in the country. .... Bosnia’s membership in NATO will also be supported, he said and added that it was important that Bosnia get assistance in carrying out necessary defense reforms to pave the way for NATO entry. .... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9739&Itemid=26 Radio Serbia January 20, 2010 Basescu: Serbia is especially significant for Romania Romanian President Traian Basescu said in Bucharest that Serbia’s EU integrations represented the national interest of Romania as well. Serbia is our neigbhour and is particularly significant for us, so its rapprochement to the EU and NATO is in the national interest of Romania as well, he said, presenting the priorities of Romania’s foreign policy at an annual meetings with ambassadors. The meeting was attended by the Serbian Ambassador in Bucharest Zoran Popovic as well. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected] or [email protected] Daily digest option available. ==============================
