Albania, Croatia hopeful about NATO 3

TIRANA, March 3 – Albania and Croatia expect to become full NATO members by the beginning of April.
Albanian Parliamentary Speaker Jozefina Topalli visited Croatia to meet with her Croatian counterpart Luka Bebic.
“Eleven months ago we received an invitation from NATO, and a month before the summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, we expect to jointly finish this path and for Albania and Croatia to become fully-fledged NATO members,” said Topalli.
Bebic confirmed that he hoped Croatia and Albania’s common path to NATO would be successfully concluded in a month’s time, at the jubilee summit in France and Germany at the beginning of April, where the Alliance will be celebrating its 60th birthday.
They agreed that cooperation between the two countries was very successful, and that they would continue in that direction in the next few years.
“Although we are not immediate neighbors, we are very close and our relations are exceptional,” said Bebic.
Topalli thanked the Croatian speaker for the help and support Croatia had offered Albania on its path to EU accession.
But the recent dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, a NATO member, has also thrown some doubts on the process.
“Expansion of the Alliance is a solemn act but if just one country accesses it not three there will be something not right and the process will be stopped,” unknown diplomatic source told Croatian Agency HINA.
Southeast European defense ministers will gather in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Friday for an unofficial NATO meeting in the region, according to Croatia’s Defense Ministry, adding they are to discuss the regional security challenges and new possibilities for regional cooperation within the Adriatic Charter.
The meeting, hosted by Croatian Defense Minister Branko Vukelic, will gather the ministers and ranking officials of the Defense Ministries of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey as well as NATO representatives.