NATO Foreign Ministers Meet to Prepare Bucharest Summit Agenda

NATO Foreign Ministers are meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 6 March 2008 to address key political and operational topics on the agenda of the upcoming Bucharest Summit, to be held on 2-4 April.

The meeting is a key opportunity for Foreign Ministers to shape the decisions for the Summit and continue enforcing NATO's role in handling today's critical security challenges.

Enlargement will feature prominently on the agenda of the informal talks, especially the membership prospects of Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia1.

Ministers will look at broader issues of Euro-Atlantic integration, including how to deepen NATO's engagement with its partners in the Western Balkans more broadly and address how they see the enlargement process moving forward.

They will discuss NATO's relations with Ukraine and Georgia. Both countries have recently made known their aspirations to move formally into NATO's Membership Action Plan (MAP).

Allied Ministers will also assess NATO led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

On Kosovo, Ministers will reaffirm the fact that KFOR will continue to play its role, protecting majority and minority alike throughout Kosovo, according to its UN mandate.

Foreign Ministers will take stock of the situation in Afghanistan, where NATO-led operation in support of the Afghan people is achieving progress but many challenges remain ahead.
* Turkey recognizes the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.

Source: NATO

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

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