Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin held talks with Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki and Albanian foreign minister Lulzim Basha during the First Alliance of Civilizations Forum, held on January 15 and 16 2008 in Madrid, a Council of Ministers media statement said.

One of the topics discussed was the April 2008 NATO summit, at which Macedonia, Albania and Croatia were expected to receive invitations for NATO membership.

Bulgaria has always supported the stand that Macedonia, Albania and Croatia should become part of the Atlantic family. Currently there was no decision to invite them, but this would probably be taken at the last moment, Kalfin said.

On January 23 2008 Macedonia would present its report on its progress towards NATO membership at NATO's headquarters in Brussels. A day earlier a memorandum for the Euro-Atlantic cooperation between Bulgaria and Macedonia would be signed in Sofia. On January 30 2008 Albania would present its progress-towards-NATO-membership report in Brussels as well, the media statement said.