TIRANA, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that the doors of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remained opened to Macedonia, Albania and Croatia, the MIA news agency reported Friday.

    "The NATO Summit in Istanbul will be a forum, at which further improvement of the cooperation with the three countries will be discussed," Rumsfeld said in a telegram, which he sent on the occasion of the ministerial conference of the US-Adriatic Charter signatories.

    "I believe that Macedonia, Albania and Croatia are in a phase ofimplementation of the Action plan for membership and the reforms in the sphere of defense, " he said.

    He also expressed gratitude to Macedonia, Albania and Croatia for their participation in the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    On the eve of NATO's Istanbul Summit, the defense ministers of Macedonia, Albania and Croatia held the conference on Friday in Skopje, capital of Macedonia, to enhance their cooperation towardsjoining NATO.

    The US-Adriatic Charter was signed in Tirana on May 2, 2003, by Croatia, Albania, Macedonia and United States, formalizing the US support for the three countries on their way to NATO. Enditem