Estonian Officials And NATO Leadership To Discuss Further Steps Towards Estonia's Accession To Alliance

On Tuesday, high-ranking officials from Estonia's ministries of foreign affairs and defence will head for Brussels to discuss, with the NATO leadership, the third plan of actions for the period of 2001-2002 to arrange the republic's accession to the alliance. The plan has recently been approved by the Estonian government. The plan drafted with the active participation of experts from NATO, the USA, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Lithuania and Latvia, stipulates a priority for Estonia on its way to the accession -- by 2002, to make the country's defence expenditures reach 2 percent of the GDP which will testify to the country's readiness to enter NATO. The Estonian leaders expect a regular NATO summit in Prague in 2002 to make a political decision on admitting the country to the alliance.