A senior U.S. defense official said in Skopje on Thursday that the United States is committed to assisting Macedonia in its efforts to join the NATO, news reaching here from Skopje said.

"We are here to talk with Macedonia on how else we can help them to have the best possible candidacy when the allies get together in 2008," Daniel Fata, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, said after meeting Macedonian Defense Minister Lazar Elenovski.

He said Macedonia had made impressive progress in defense reform and modernization, but at the same time urged the country to speed up reforms required for a full NATO member in its next round of enlargement.

Macedonia, along with Albania and Croatia, signed the Adriatic Charter with the United States in 2003 in order to facilitate their entry into the NATO, and it hopes that it will receive invitation to join the club by 2008.

The U.S. Congress recently passed resolutions that endorse expansion of the NATO to include the three Balkan countries as well as Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics.

Source: Xinhua