NATO has not given up plans to accept Georgia and Ukraine but believes the countries should more actively conduct reforms to fall in line with the criteria required for membership, the alliance's secretary general said Monday.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a Georgian-origin student in Washington's Georgetown University that the countries should conduct security and other reforms.
He added that NATO has been holding active discussions with Georgia and Ukraine through bilateral working groups.
Ukraine and Georgia have long been pursuing NATO membership but their bids were turned down due to pressure from Germany and France at a 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest.
But NATO has stated that the two countries could join at an unspecified date in the future.
WASHINGTON, February 23 (RIA Novosti)
