NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson assured Monday that NATO enlargement will not be delayed by the war in Iraq.

"The crisis in Iraq is no threat to the timeline of your accession to NATO," Secretary-General Robertson said at a news conference in Estonia.

November 21st last year was a historic day for Bulgaria as the country was invited to accession talks with NATO at the summit in Prague.

Membership invitations were also extended to Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Bulgaria is expected to become full NATO member in early 2004. With this enlargement wave, NATO is to swell from 19 to 26 members in 2004. This is the biggest expansion in the history of the alliance and the first time that the alliance expands to include former Soviet territory.

Robertson said NATO was closely monitoring the developments of the military campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and was in constant touch with the United States and Great Britain.