Romania Is First to Sign Up for NATO Cooperation Program
NATO enrolled Romania on Wednesday as the first nation in its new program offering cooperation to former Warsaw Pact foes while denying them full membership in the military alliance.
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu signed the document during a meeting with ambassadors of the 16 nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The “Partnership for Peace” program, proposed by the United States, will allow East European nations and ex-Soviet republics to join NATO in military exercises, peacekeeping operations and other activities. But it does not grant them membership.
Melescanu said his country already has begun informal consultations with NATO military experts and hopes to conduct joint peacekeeping exercises later this year.
President Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania planned to sign up today, followed by Poland and possibly Estonia next week.
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