Romania's new President Ion Iliescu reaffirmed Friday his hopes for Bucharest joining NATO and the European Union, in talks with an advisor to US president-elect George W. Bush.
"The United States are ready to cooperate with Romania on political, strategic and economic levels," said Iliescu, cited by the Mediafax news agency. "America's interest in Romania has not waned," he said.
He was speaking after talks with Bruce Jackson, an advisor to Bush who was in Bucharest for a conference on relations between Romania and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
According to Iliescu, Jackson said that the new Romanian government's commitment to working with NATO and the EU encouraged Washington to work with Bucharest.
Iliescu has stressed since his December 10 victory in presidential run-off ballots that joining NATO and the European Union were his main foreign policy objectives.
Three ex-communist countries -- Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic -- joined NATO in March 1999, and others including Romania and Bulgaria are part of the Alliance's Partnership for Peace program, hoping for full membership -- BUCHAREST (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
