BUCHAREST: Tuesday March 26, 3:31 AM US President George W Bush said today he was committed to "removing the remaining divisions of Europe" at a NATO summit later this year set to issue new invitations to join the Alliance.
In a message to 10 prime ministers of ex-communist countries hoping to be invited to join at the Prague summit in November, he said Washington wants to forge a new relationship with Russia, which has opposed NATO expansion.
"In Prague, our nations will take a historic step toward removing the remaining divisions of Europe," he said in the message, read at a meeting in Bucharest of candidate states.
"We will move to adapt NATO's structures and improve its capabilities so that our societies and our citizens are better protected against new threats, wherever they emerge," he said.
The politics of NATO enlargement have changed since September 11.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's new entente with the West against terrorism has tempered Moscow's criticism of the Alliance's expansion.
"We are determined to take advantage of an unprecedented chance to shape a relationship with Russia that focuses on realistic and concrete cooperation against common threats," Bush said.
Earlier today US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Washington foresees strong NATO expansion in Prague, and urged candidate states to accelerate their preparations to join.
"The US looks forward to the most robust possible accession to the NATO membership at the Prague summit," said Armitage ahead of the meeting in Bucharest, dubbed "Spring of New Allies."
The leaders of nine formal candidates -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania -- are gathered here along with their Croatian counterpart.
Croatia has been a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program since mid-2000 but has yet to enter formal negotiations over entry. Its government has said it wants to join the organization by 2005.