Candidate Countries for NATO Membership Hold Meeting in Skopje

TIRANA, Mar 8, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Foreign Ministers from 10 candidate countries for NATO's membership Friday held a one-day meeting in Skopje, capital of Macedonia, and reiterated their willingness to join the largest military organization in the world, reports reaching here from Skopje said.

In the final Joint Statement, the foreign ministers from Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia welcomed NATO's enlargement process, hailing it as a contribution to peace and stability in the entire Euro-Atlantic region.

During the meeting, the Foreign Ministers presented their countries' preparations to gain NATO's membership and emphasized the next NATO summit in Prague in November will be a historic opportunity for all of them.

They also exchanged views on the situation of Southeast Europe and hailed the positive developments in the region.

Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY