Serbian President Boris Tadic will sign in Brussels next week a
framework agreement with NATO to enable the Balkan country to
become a full member of NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program,
Tadic's office said on Thursday.
Tadic received on Thursday morning from NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer an invitation to come to Brussels and sign
the agreement on behalf of the Republic of Serbia on Dec. 14, said
the office, adding that Tadic accepted the invitation.
Tadic, who was in Portugal on a two-day visit, told the press in
Porto that for Serbia this means that it is "entering partnership
with the Alliance of major military potentials."
Tadic said this is an important fact for Serbia's European
integration, adding that, although there are no formal conditions,
it is practically impossible for any country to join the European
Union unless it is a member of PfP.
During the NATO summit in Riga last week, Serbia was invited to
join the PfP program along with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro,
which is believed to be a personal diplomatic victory for
Tadic.
Serbia submitted a formal application for admission in the PfP
program in 2002, but the NATO has conditioned Serbia's accession
into the program on its extradition of major war crime suspects,
especially former Bosnian army commander Ratko Mladic.
(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)
