United States reiterates support for Macedonia's NATO bid

09/10/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates reiterated on Wednesday (October 8th) Washington's strong support for Macedonia's NATO aspirations. "As were many of you, we were also disappointed with the [NATO summit's] outcome when Macedonia did not receive an invitation to join the Alliance," Gates noted. Earlier, he met with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Defence Minister Zoran Konjanovski on the sidelines of an annual meeting of regional defence ministers in Ohrid. At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April, Greece vetoed Macedonia's bid to join NATO because of the long-running name dispute between the two countries. "We urge Macedonia and Greece to find a solution to the issue as soon as possible, as that is in the best interest of both countries and the region," Gates said.

In other news Wednesday, the UN envoy in the name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, offered a new proposal at a joint meeting with Greek and Macedonian representatives Adamantios Vassilakis and Nikola Dimitrov in New York. He declined to reveal details of his proposal and set no deadline for resolving the issue. He said he expects comments from the two sides in two to three weeks. Nimetz dismissed reports this would be his last proposal. (Vecer, Dnevnik, Utrinski Vesnik, Ta Nea, Kathimerini - 09/10/08; Makfax, MIA, Xinhua, AP, A1, ANA-MPA, ERT, Reuters - 08/10/08)