§ Sir Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the military preparations for joining NATO of(a) Bulgaria, (b) Estonia, (c) Latvia, (d)Lithuania, (e) Romania, (f)Slovakia and (g) Slovenia; and if he will make a statement. [151673]
§ Mr. StrawIn making the decision to invite the seven countries to join the alliance, NATO evaluated their progress against the areas for reform set out under NATO's Membership Action Plan (MAP).
All of the invitees have been in an intensive dialogue with NATO to establish what reforms were necessary in the political and economic, defence and intelligence, resource, security and legal fields. Agreed reform objectives set out in Annual National Plans (ANP) have been reviewed annually with NATO International Staff and Allies.
The UK has provided considerable bilateral assistance to all of the countries and will continue to provide support once they have joined the alliance. This assistance will help to ensure that the invitee countries to NATO can continue their reform programmes and make an effective contribution to the alliance's military and political structures.