William Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine, believes that the country could join the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) the next year. Taylor's interview was publicized in the Gazeta 24 newspaper.
According to Taylor, NATO will be very difficult to make a decision on MAP for Ukraine at a meeting in December because of the political stability is one of the criteria that is examined by foreign ministers to prepare for the meeting.
However, U.S. Ambassador noted that the
next NATO summit would be held in April 2009 and a new meeting of NATO foreign
ministers will be held in early summer.
"These meetings will provide a number of
opportunities to look at the issue of political stability of Ukraine, as well as the desire of leaders to join MAP," Taylor said.
Taylor stressed that the readiness of the North Atlantic alliance to offer MAP depends on the official Kiev. "If the Ukrainian leadership will continue to be interested in receiving the MAP in April or June next year, then, of course, such a possibility would be", - the U.S. ambassador said.
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