KIEV, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is aiming to join NATO in 2008, a deputy Ukrainian foreign minister said Wednesday. "An extended NATO summit will take place in 2008, which is expected to bring in a wave of new members to the organization. We hope the wave will bring us to NATO too," Volodymyr Khandohiy told journalists.
Khandohiy said Ukraine had to successfully implement domestic reforms in order to achieve NATO membership. The country would hold bilateral talks with current NATO members in an effort to convince them to accept its application, he said.
Ukraine's accession to NATO became a subject of intense discussion after the "orange revolution" swept pro-Western authorities, including President Viktor Yushchenko, to power in 2004.
