BUSH BACKS UKRAINE, GEORGIA FOR NATO

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.04.2008 16:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Romania
Tuesday ready to back Ukraine and Georgia’s bid to join NATO in
the face of French concern that it would upset the balance of power
in Europe.

According to excerpts of remarks he will make to NATO leaders at
their summit here late Wednesday, Bush is also set to urge them to
"finish the fight" in Afghanistan, where the alliance is struggling
against a Taliban insurgency.

On a stop-over in Kiev, on his way to NATO’s biggest-ever gathering,
Bush said Washington wanted to see former Soviet republics Ukraine
and Georgia given a Membership Action Plan (MAP) – a formal step to
joining NATO.

"I strongly believe that Ukraine and Georgia should be given MAP
and there’s no trade-offs, period," Bush told reporters, alongside
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

"My position is absolutely solid. Ukraine and Georgia should be
given MAP."

Bush said that extending the initial invitation to Ukraine and Georgia
would signal to their citizens "that if they continue on the path
of democracy and reform they will be welcomed into the institutions
of Europe." It would signal to the wider region, including Russia,
that the two "are, and will remain, sovereign and independent states,"
the AFP reports.