THE nine NATO candidate states have achieved substantial institutional changes in their progression towards full membership, was one of the conclusions of the second international conference “Membership Action Plan: Lessons and Prospects.”
The two-day forum opened in Sofia on Monday with representatives of the nine candidate states, the three newly elected NATO members, the alliance itself, international experts and state officials.
Participants shared positive and negative experiences in implementing their individual membership action plans and presented new proposals for the successful completion of the reforms in the sphere of defence and integration strategies.
Co-organisers of the forum were the Bulgarian Defence Ministry, the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) of the National Defence University in Washington and the George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).
Bulgarian Deputy Defence Minister Velizar Shalamanov said after the conference: “Changes in strategic culture as well as institutional changes in the defence systems in the nine candidate states have been achieved.” He added that was probably the global conclusion of the various participants in the forum.
Shalamanov noted that among the lessons from the conference was the realisation that a further improvement of the compatibility of the programmes in which the candidate states take part was needed as well as upgrading the documentary basis of defence planning.
Jeffrey Simon from the INSS said that the action plan was a necessary process but was not sufficient in itself and further progress needed to be made in the reforms of the candidate countries, which NATO would take into account in decisions on enlargement.
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) was launched in April 1999 in order to provide concrete feedback and advice from NATO to aspiring countries in their preparations for future membership. The nine countries in MAP are Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The two-day forum opened in Sofia on Monday with representatives of the nine candidate states, the three newly elected NATO members, the alliance itself, international experts and state officials.
Participants shared positive and negative experiences in implementing their individual membership action plans and presented new proposals for the successful completion of the reforms in the sphere of defence and integration strategies.
Co-organisers of the forum were the Bulgarian Defence Ministry, the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) of the National Defence University in Washington and the George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).
Bulgarian Deputy Defence Minister Velizar Shalamanov said after the conference: “Changes in strategic culture as well as institutional changes in the defence systems in the nine candidate states have been achieved.” He added that was probably the global conclusion of the various participants in the forum.
Shalamanov noted that among the lessons from the conference was the realisation that a further improvement of the compatibility of the programmes in which the candidate states take part was needed as well as upgrading the documentary basis of defence planning.
Jeffrey Simon from the INSS said that the action plan was a necessary process but was not sufficient in itself and further progress needed to be made in the reforms of the candidate countries, which NATO would take into account in decisions on enlargement.
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) was launched in April 1999 in order to provide concrete feedback and advice from NATO to aspiring countries in their preparations for future membership. The nine countries in MAP are Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
