NATO respects sovereign countries' choice for membership.-- top official

VILNIUS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A senior NATO official said here Thursday the military alliance respects sovereign countries' choice for its membership.

Alexander Vershbow, the military bloc's deputy secretary general, made the remarks during Vilnius Conference 2014 held in Lithuania's capital following its 10 year anniversary on March 29 of the NATO membership.

"We believe in the principles of choice. In the case of Ukraine, we gave a very positive signal in the Bucharest Summit. They made the decision to establish the policy of 'no block' and we respect that choice," said Vershbow.

• "We will stick to our principles and we will continue rejecting Russia's efforts to exert pressure on the sovereign countries' choices," he added.

• Concerning Georgia's future role, he pointed out that a lot of discussions were going on in NATO.

"Many countries agree with the Georgian minister that the best way to recognize Georgia's progress would be to bring them in to the membership action plan, but other nations take different views," he said.

"Nevertheless, I think that there is an agreement that Georgia has made enormous progress," he continued.

From April 3 to 4, Vilnius Conference 2014 "NATO open door: Ten years after the 'BIG BANG'" takes place in Lithuania's Presidential Palace, gathering NATO officials and representatives from the Baltics and Adriatic Charter countries.
 [cntv.cn]
4/4/14