Visiting U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday shared the view with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader that all southeast European countries are welcomed into NATO.
"We jointly support all countries of southeast Europe on their path to transatlantic associations, Euro-Atlantic associations," Sanader told reporters after talks with Bush on the president's second-day visit to Croatia.
"We regret that Macedonia did not succeed in Bucharest," Sanader said, but added both Croatia and the United States expect Macedonia to receive the invitation to NATO as soon as possible.
Bush arrived at Zagreb Friday afternoon for a two-day official visit to Croatia. He flew in from Romania's capital Bucharest where Croatia, along with Albania, received invitations to join NATO on Thursday.
Sanader thanked Bush's support for Croatia which culminated in a NATO invitation and this visit.
Terming the Croatian-U.S. relationship as exceptionally good, Sanader said "they could be even better."
During his visit, Bush discussed with the Croatian leader the issue of easing visa regime, which will make it easier for Croatians to travel to the United States.
Bush is scheduled to depart in hours for Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi for his final official meeting with his outgoing counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is wary of NATO's intention of expanding into Russia's backyard by trying to grant pre-membership status for the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine.
Bush's attempt to put the two Eastern European countries on an immediate path to NATO membership was thwarted at the NATO summit in Bucharest by his German and French colleagues, who feared a hasty expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe would further provoke the Kremlin and upset the strategic balance with Russia.
However, NATO leaders pledged to have Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance one day.
Source: Xinhua
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