The door to NATO remains open and in Bucharest we will have a confirmation that the NATO family will continue to enlarge, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the opening of the North Atlantic Council meeting on Thursday morning.
Without any concrete mentions, de Hoop Scheffer said decisions about the NATO expansion will be taken on Thursday.
In relation to the NATO missions in the world, de Hoop Scheffer reiterated NATO's pledge to continue its contributions toward securing peace and stability in Afghanistan, adding that a vision for achieving this goal will be worked out.
A stable and multi-ethnical Kosovo is another objective of NATO, he said, adding that the Bucharest Summit will reaffirm NATO's strong resolution to provide, together with other institutions and organisations, security and stability to the province in these critical moments.
According to de Hopp Scheffer, another major theme of the Bucharest Summit is preparing to combat against new security threats in the 21st century. To this end, the Alliance is said to focus its attention on countering cyber attacks, its contributions to providing energy security, as well as to the need for anti-missile defence.
In all these areas, the NATO secretary general said, NATO will be an indispensable engine, but cooperation from beyond the Alliance is nevertheless needed in addition.