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Newest in Nato
After a successful 60th anniversary summit, Albanian Ambassador
Zef Mazi reflects on what it is like being the club’s newest member
In a festive and warm
atmosphere of true
partnership, NATO cel-
ebrated its 60th Anni-
versary. In a remarka-
ble display of unity, the
alliance warmly wel-
comed France back into its integrated mil-
itary structures; fully supported the Amer-
ican new proposed strategy for Afghani-
stan, including more troop contributions
in order to deal jointly with a real poten-
tial threat to the international commu-
nity; unanimously welcomed into its ranks
Albania and Croatia as its full 27th and
28th members; and, again with a sense of
unity and purpose, elected its new Sec-
retary General, the current Danish Prime
Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The long road to membership
Albania applied for NATO membership as
early as in 1992, right after its first demo-
cratic pluralistic elections. It was too early
then. The country had to work and walk a
long way to be prepared to earn its mem-
bership of NATO.
Albania joined the Partnership for Peace
in 1994 and, five years later it was invited to
start the Membership Action Plan (MAP).
On 1 May 2003, Albania, together with
its neighbours Croatia and Macedonia,
signed with the US the so-called ‘Adriatic-
3 Charter’, as an important instrument to
help intensify the efforts and speed up the
whole process for NATO membership.
All these proved to be vitally important
for Albania’s focused and result-oriented
efforts to get ever closer to meeting the
requirements and be eligible for NATO
membership.
In the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit,
Albania and Croatia unanimously received
the invitation to join the Organisation. Alba-
nia worked hard to transform itself − to
strengthen and consolidate its democratic
system, its democratic institutions and the
rule of law; to move to a market economy,
combat corruption and to achieve a sus-
tained 6.1 percent GDP growth for the last
ten years; to align itself firmly with our part-
ners in the global fight on terrorism; and
generally to push intensively and success-
fully forward with all-round reforms, includ-
ing the reform of the armed forces, and
meeting the NATO requirements.
Albania and Croatia signed the NATO
Accession Treaty in early July 2008. The rat-
ification process of the signed Treaty by the
26 Governments of NATO members was
completed and the ratification instruments
deposited in Washington − in a record time
of only nine months. This allowed for the
NATO Secretary General to happily extend
the formal invitation to Albania and Croatia
to join NATO.
In NATO’s debt
Joining NATO has always enjoyed the broad-
est public support of the people of all strata
and across the political spectrum in Alba-
nia, a support which reaches figures higher
than perhaps among NATO members!
Perhaps this is because Albania, its peo-
ple, and the Albanian nation have experi-
enced first-hand what NATO can remark-
ably do to ensure freedom, peace, secu-
rity and to help consolidate democracy, in
particular in a region like the Balkans.
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NATO unanimously and vigorously acted
to stop the carnage, severe and protracted
human rights violations and expulsions of
about a million people from Kosovo and
freed Kosovo and its people from the bru-
tal oppressive military machine of Milose-
vic’s Serbia. Albania and the Albanians will
be always grateful for that.
For Albania and its people, which
emerged from a most orthodox Stalinist
regime only 18 years ago, joining NATO is
indeed a great, momentous and historic
national achievement. NATO includes two
more members, thereby enlarging and
consolidating its democratic space. Alba-
nia anchors its democracy and democratic
achievements, as well as its future, firmly
and securely into the most successful and
powerful politico-military Alliance that
history has ever known.
Albania is proud it was able to earn the
invitation to sit at the same table with the
greatest champions of democracy, free-
dom, peace and prosperity. Albania is
most cordially thankful to all the 26 NATO
member states for having assisted and
supported it all along its road to full mem-
bership. Albania is proud to be the new-
est NATO member. It is fully prepared and
ready to take upon itself all the responsi-
bilities and obligations that come with this
membership, as a loyal member, fully justi-
fying the trust of the Alliance. -
FOR DIPLOMATS t
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