The US and Greek defense ministers discussed on Sunday how to bring Yugoslavia into the orbit of Western democracies now that Slobodan Milosevic is out of power, a Pentagon spokesman said.
US Defense Secretary William Cohen and Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos met ahead of a two-day meeting of regional defense ministers that will focus on the dramatic changes in Belgrade.
Cohen and Tsohatzopoulos raised the possibility of bringing Yugoslavia into a club of southeastern European defense ministers that was formed five years ago as a "belt of security" around the wars waging in the former Yugoslavia, said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon.
Belgrade would not be asked to join the group immediately, Bacon said. "But if democracy holds, that is a possibility."
The group consists of Greece, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Croatia, which is sending its defense minister to the meeting here for the first time.
Cohen and Tsohatzopoulos discussed the Yugoslav situation earlier in the day as they cruised the Aegean in a 38-meter yacht. They inspected the ruins of a temple to Apollo on the island of Delos after an overnight stay on the resort island of Mykonos.
"They talked about how best to move forward with Yugoslavia, now that Milosevic is no longer president," Bacon said.
"There are clearly unanswered questions: what is Milosevic's role going to be?" he added.
Their talks followed a visit to Belgrade Saturday by Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, the first western official to meet with Vojislav Kostunica since his election.
Cohen and his counterpart also discussed the thaw in relations between Greece and Turkey, which this week is hosting Greek fighter planes for the first time in three decades as part of a NATO exercise.
Bilateral defense issues discussed included Greek military modernization plans and a technical agreement that clarifies that status of US forces in Greece.
"They agreed to complete it as soon as possible. They would like to get it done in next month or so," Bacon said of the technical agreement.
Greece, which has said it plans to buy 11 billion dollars worth of arms and equipment over the next five years, has already ordered 50 US F-16 fighters, 60 Eurofighters and 15 French-built Mirage 2000-5 fighters.
They also are considering acquiring 250 main battle tanks, and are looking at the US-made Abrams M1 tank, among others, officials said -- SALONIKA(AFP)
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