Negotiating team for NATO membership created

TIRANA, April 16 – Albanian authorities created the negotiating team that will be in charge of the procedures up to the full membership into NATO.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha said at a government meeting that the negotiating team would be made up of diplomats and representatives of the institutions involved in the process like the interior, finance, foreign, justice, economy and defense ministries and would be headed by himself.
NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, April 2-4 invited Albania together with Croatia to become a full member. A few days later NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer sent a letter launching the negotiations for the full membership, which both Tirana and Zagreb responded positively.
The process may likely get one year, or more. Tirana and very likely NATO member countries hope that the two members may be formally invited at the next year summit celebrating the alliance’s 60th birthday. (Tirana Times Staff)