Bucharest, 9 June 1997 (RFE/RL) -- The speaker of the Romanian Senate, Petre Roman, says he wants to convince as many U.S. lawmakers as possible that Romania must be included in the first wave of NATO's eastward expansion.
Roman was speaking to reporters in Bucharest this morning before leaving on a four-day official visit to Washington where he is scheduled to meet leading American senators and administration officials.
Roman said that Romania's arguments for entering NATO in the first wave are very strong. He said his main task in Washington is to convince as many senators as possible of this.
At its Madrid summit in July, NATO is expected to issue invitations to several east European countries to become new members. Most analaysts do not believe Romania will be among those invited first.