NATO reaffirms open door policy for Ukraine

14.03.2019 15:09

Ukrinform

NATO has reaffirmed its commitment to the open door policy regarding its enlargement, as well as the decision of the NATO Bucharest Summit of 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia will become NATO members once they meet all the necessary requirements.

A respective clause is contained in the NATO Secretary General's Annual Report for 2018, in the section devoted to NATO enlargement, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presented the report at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday .

"At the Brussels Summit, NATO leaders reconfirmed the 2008 Bucharest Summit decision that Georgia will become a member of the Alliance. In light of Ukraine's restated aspirations for NATO membership, Allies also stand by their decisions taken at the Bucharest Summit and subsequent Summits," the report reads.

At the same time, while commenting on the prospect of Ukraine getting a Membership Action Plan, Stoltenberg said at a press conference that Ukraine and NATO already have all the tools that are necessary for effective partnership.

"When it comes to Ukraine, I think we have already in place many different tools. We have the Annual National Program, the NATO-Ukraine Commission, different partnerships, activities. So, we have already in place a lot of tools that can be used to strengthen our partnership and help Ukraine move towards Euro-Atlantic integration," Stoltenberg said.

As reported, amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine securing the country's course for membership in the European Union and NATO came into effect on February 21.

The Verkhovna Rada on February 7 passed the law introducing amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the strategic course of the state for acquiring full-fledged membership of Ukraine in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the law in the Verkhovna Rada on February 19.

According to the document, the transitional provisions of the Constitution exclude a clause that provides for the use of existing military bases on Ukrainian territory for the temporary stationing of foreign military formations under lease terms in accordance with international treaties.