Albania formally applies for NATO membership

TIRANA, April 12 – Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha officially signed a document to begin membership negotiations with NATO following Albania receiving an invitation to join the organization earlier this month.
“For Albania, receiving the invitation makes up not only a historic moment in its ties with the Alliance, but is at the same time one of the most important moments in its history,” said a statement from the Foreign Ministry. “The decision to invite Albania is a clear expression of the evaluation of our extraordinary efforts and achievements in the field of the necessary reforms for membership and of Albania’s contribution to NATO-led missions.”
Days earlier, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer sent a letter to Basha on the launch of the negotiations on full membership, which Tirana expects to have completed next year on the 60th anniversary of the alliance. Albania was invited, along with Croatia, to become a NATO member at its last summit in Bucharest which ran from April 2-4. While NATO welcomed Croatia and Albania, it failed to offer membership to Macedonia, the country embroiled in a name dispute with its neighbor, Greece, resulting in having its membership request vetoed by Greece.
Displaying a splash of emotions at the summit, the Macedonian made a demonstrative early withdrawal from the summit. Macedonia’s official position was that NATO made the wrong evaluation of factors when deciding on the country’s membership. The country has made substantial headway in military reforms, a fact that Macedonia regards as much more important for NATO interests than its name row with Greece.