The Visegrad group of four central European countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland - gave its backing Wednesday to efforts by Ukraine and Georgia to join NATOC, according to dpa. Visegrad foreign ministers said in a joint statement that the move would be "an important step towards deepening cooperation in political, defence, security." Former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine, whose relations with Moscow have been at times rocky, were not invited to join the alliance at a recent NATO summit in Bucharest despite US backing. While North American and Eastern European NATO members supported their bid, Western European powers France and Germany opposed it. Albania and Croatia were invited at the summit to join the alliance while Macedonia was not, owing to a dispute with Greece over the country's name.
