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Bucharest, April 4 /Agerpres/ - Romania fully reached its goals at NATO’s 60th anniversary Summit held Friday and Saturday in Strasbourg-France and Kehl-Germany, President Traian Basescu said after the meeting. 'It is very important for Romanians to find out if we have reached our goals at the summit. I can firmly state that we have fully reached them, and that the past few weeks of work, of intense diplomatic efforts of the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Presidency, through direct contacts with heads of state and government, to find solutions convenient for Romania and mark progress from last year's summit held in Bucharest, have been very important and, I dare say, very well used in Romania's best interest, Basescu said. In this respect, Basescu explained, the summit in Strasbourg-Kehl was in many ways a continuation of the Alliance's decisions taken in Bucharest last year. Thus, Albania and Croatia have become NATO members, after the invitation to join NATO has been extended to them in Bucharest and France returned to the allied military structures, a fact also announced in Bucharest. 'It was decided at the Strasbourg-Kehl Summit to maintain the Alliance's option to receive Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Alliance's structure and, as a continuation of the Bucharest Summit, the two states will receive, when they are ready, the plan of action to become part of NATO,' the president pointed out. He highlighted that the summit in France and Germany maintains the aspects set in Bucharest as regards Serbia, in the respect of strengthening the Alliance's ties with the former Yugoslav Republic. NATo has also assured Ukraine and Georgia that they can become members of the alliance and a continuity element is the reconfirmation of the Alliance's stance as regards 'supporting Moldova's territorial integrity.' A novelty from the previous summit has been the idea of the international community's involvement in solving the conflict in Georgia. 'The Alliance has decided to get politically involved with solving the Russian-Georgian dispute. This Summit resumes statements related to the frozen conflicts in the Caucasus and the Republic of Moldova' Basescu explained. Moreover, the allies have maintained the stand taken initially, in the respect of developing options for a NATO anti-missile defense system, aimed to protect the allied territories, based on the principle of indivisible allied security and collective solidarity. The relation between the Alliance and Russia is another novelty. 'One of the decisions taken now has been for the Alliance to return to the relations established at the summit in Bucharest as regards the ties with the Russian Federation. The current summit has decided to resume partnership relations with Russia. The NATO-Russia Council is to start functioning on the same principles like those before the ties were frozen,' Basescu explained. The head of state also said that Romania supported the idea according to which the Alliance's future relation must be defined by strong transatlantic ties. 'We are not competing with America but are its equal partners in guaranteeing security for all NATO members,' he said. As regards the Alliance's future functioning formula, Romania backs the highlighting of the NATO's successful expansion and its contribution to reunifying Europe. 'We are supporting the continuation of the Alliance's open doors policy, hence our support for Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, and not in the least, for Ukraine and Georgia,' Basescu explained.
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