Ries says Albania needs more work on NATO integration efforts

TIRANA, April 20 – U.S. Ambassador Marcie B. Ries speaking at the conference “Civil Alliance 08: Together Towards NATO” held in Tirana said that despite its willingness Albania and Albanians should get aware of what cost comes up with the membership into the military alliance. Ries hailed the government’s pledge to increase the military expenditure to two percent of the GDP and also the country’s participation in NATO mission in Afghanistan. But she also said that Albania, as all current members, must be able to count on the understanding and political support of its citizens. “Albanians favor NATO membership, but they need to know specifically what the costs and benefits are,” she said. Ries said that civil society and NGOs can play an important role in organizing support and in helping citizens, through education and media, to understand in detail how NATO works. She considered their role as vital.
“Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia hope to receive invitations to join NATO at the 2008 Summit. To demonstrate to the Allies that Albania has met NATO’s performance-based standards, means that Albania must engage audiences both domestically and internationally.” Ries hailed Albania’s progress on its membership action plan. “But more work is needed. Getting it done will require the Government, Opposition, and civil society on behalf of the citizens to work closely together for the good of the country,” she said. “The United States continues to support your aspirations to meet the standards required to join the Alliance and, especially, the role of civil society in helping this process.”
Ries also mentioned that the Alliance has grown to 26 countries, including many former Warsaw Pact members. Its challenges have also changed in many ways. Although the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 90’s, eliminating the threat the Alliance faced for its first 50 years, a different threat of global terrorism cloaked in religious fundamentalism has emerged. “We are proud of the job NATO is doing to keep the peace in Kosovo and to stabilize and defend democracy in Afghanistan. Yet it would be wrong to think of NATO as simply a pact among nations of Europe to defend each other from military threats. Security is not limited to the absence of war. It means be prepared for and supporting each other in the case of natural disasters countering proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and it means especially leaders of like-minded countries meeting to discuss global situations.”
NATO is about shared political and democratic values, she said. Allies share and defend democratic systems of government, respect for human rights, rule of law, and free market economics. These values define NATO, just as much as coordinated military structures.
“That is why – in addition to military requirements for membership, aspiring members are asked to make political and economic reforms.”