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| Nato welcomes Albania and Croatia | Nato welcomes Albania and Croatia |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Albania and Croatia have officially joined the Nato military alliance. | Albania and Croatia have officially joined the Nato military alliance. |
| The two states became Nato's 27th and 28th members after their ambassadors to the US filed their instruments of accession at a ceremony in Washington. | The two states became Nato's 27th and 28th members after their ambassadors to the US filed their instruments of accession at a ceremony in Washington. |
| Correspondents say Nato wanted to mark its 60th birthday at a summit this week with a symbolic expansion into a region which only a decade ago was at war. | Correspondents say Nato wanted to mark its 60th birthday at a summit this week with a symbolic expansion into a region which only a decade ago was at war. |
| Croatia's accession had been threatened by a border dispute with Slovenia, which only withdrew its veto on Monday. | Croatia's accession had been threatened by a border dispute with Slovenia, which only withdrew its veto on Monday. |
| Macedonia, another former Yugoslav republic that had also hoped to join Nato this week, has not been able to because of a row with Greece over its name. | |
| 'Share of responsibility' | |
| Albania and Croatia's long-expected accession came after all of Nato's member states submitted ratification documents. | |
| After Wednesday's ceremony at the US state department, Croatia's ambassador said his country intended to assume its share of the security burden in Afghanistan, where Nato leads the 55,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). | |
| "We are determined to take our share of responsibility for global peace and stability in places such as Afghanistan but also in other parts of the world," Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said. | |
| His Albanian counterpart, Aleksander Sallabanda, said Albania was "ready to take up all the challenges and responsibilities that participation in the alliance entails". | |
| "In this context, we will work with responsibility and constructively with our partners to strengthen the... alliance to protect our common values," he added. | |
| Both countries will be welcomed into Nato during its 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany, later this week. |