By Talal Al-Kanderi, KUNA
Bucharest : Leaders of the 26 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold their summit in the Romanian capital Wednesday to discuss the alliance’s operations, namely in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as membership expansion.
The summit will be presided by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Romanian President Traian Basescu, and will see the participation of some 50 heads of state and top government officials, including US President George W. Bush.
On the sidelines of the three-day summit, high-level NATO meetings will convene, including the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), and the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC).
Among the issues that will be discussed are the situation in the western Balkan region, military transportation, and NATO expansion — Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia are aspiring to become members of the organization.
Greece objects to Macedonia’s membership with this name because it is the same as that of a province in the country. The foreign ministers of the two countries had met in Brussels on Friday, and their talks were described as “sincere.” A high-level meeting on Afghanistan will also be held on the sidelines of the summit, attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, EU High Representative Javier Solana, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan comprises 42,000 soldiers working as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The meeting is expected to witness the announcement of financial and military contributions by members to the peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, as well as the adoption of a political and military strategy for NATO in the coming years.
The NRC meeting will be held with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country strongly opposed the declaration of independence of Kosovo, where 16,000 NATO troops were stationed. Other issues that will be discussed by the council include the US missile defense shield in Europe, which Moscow also rejects.
The EAPC meeting will see the discussion of political and security issues of concern to the member states, while the NUC meeting will look at the progress made by the Ukraine toward obtaining membership in the organization.
A NATO youth summit will be held on the sidelines of the leaders’ meeting. Also, a NATO television station is expected to be launched.