US SENATE RATIFIES LITHUANIA’S NATO ACCESSION PROTOCOL
Created 2003-05-09
On 8 May, the US Senate (the upper house of the Congress) unanimously ratified the NATO Accession Protocols of Lithuania and other six countries invited to join the Alliance last November in Prague. 96 out of 100 senators took part in the vote, the admission of the new states to the Alliance was supported by all the senators present.
The debates and the voting procedure were observed by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis visiting Washington on this occasion, Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament Gediminas Kirkilas, Foreign Undersecretary and Chief Coordinator of Lithuania’s NATO Integration Giedrius Čekuolis, Lithuanian Ambassador to the US Vygaudas Ušackas and their colleagues from Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The United States is the third after Canada and Norway to have ratified the Accession Protocols. This is an especially important step towards Lithuania’s becoming a full-fledged member of the Alliance by the next NATO Summit scheduled for May 2004.
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