Basha at the trans-Atlantic lunch in New York

TIRANA, Sep 27 – Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha took part at the trans-Atlantic lunch organized by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with foreign ministers of the European Union and NATO member countries during the annual United Nations session.
That was the first time the Albanian minister was invited.
The lunch served to discuss on geo-strategic and security issues.
Basha, sat to Rice’s side, called on the participants to speed up their steps in ratifying the Albania’s protocol on NATO membership.
Albania was invited to join the alliance at its summit in April and then NATO signed the protocol of membership with Albania and Croatia in July.,
That protocol has to be ratified by all member countries before the two countries may join the alliance.
Hungary, Latvia and the Untied States Senate already passed the protocol last week.
Basha also took part at the Adriatic Chart meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried and counterparts from Croatia and Macedonia.
It was made clear that Albania and Croatia may hope to join the alliance at its next summit in April next year.
The Adriatic 3 Charter counties also decided to invite Bosnia and Montenegro to be part of the agreement.
At the same time Basha, present at the U.N. General Assembly session, led the Black Sea Cooperation Organization meeting with 12 ministers to discuss on the further cooperation.