Scheffer says reforms hold key to Macedonia's NATO bid

Macedonia's results in reforms implementation are of key importance in terms of granting an invitation for membership in NATO at the 2008 Summit.

NATO’s Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said this in the course of the meeting with the Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Miloshoski at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

Miloshoski briefed Scheffer on the ongoing and future government's activities aimed at meeting the membership requirements, particularly in the fields spanning the rule of law, judicial system and battle against organized crime and corruption, Macedonian Foreign Ministry announced.

Miloshoski also pledged for further participation of Macedonian soldiers in NATO-led peacekeeping operations and unveiled plans for lifting the national limits on the number of troops deployed in missions abroad.

NATO's Secretary General, on his part, said that Alliance values highly the positive role Macedonia plays in the region, as well as the country's participation in NATO-led operations and hailed the announced lifting of national limit on the number of troops.

In the course of his visit to Brussels, Minister Miloshoski attended the working lunch set up by the Manfred Werner Foundation, at which he gave an address on the topic "2008 - the Year of Inclusion of the Republic of Macedonia to NATO"