`According to a resolution adopted by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an invitation to join the Alliance should be extended to all applicant countries at the next NATO Summit in Prague in 2002, after which their achievements should be assessed on an individual basis within the context of the invitations as extended,` Parliament Foreign Policy, Defence and Security Committee Chairman Stanimir Ilchev told reporters. Ilchev spoke at a news conference given by the Bulgarian parliamentary delegation which attended the 47th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ottawa from October 6 to October 9.According to Ilchev, the Bulgarian delegation lobbied that the report on NATO enlargement no longer considers that Bulgaria and Romania are behind in their development compared to the other reforming countries applying for accession to NATO and giving preferential treatment to the Baltics.The Bulgarian delegation briefed on the support of Turkey, Greece, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Britain to adopt of a resolution on NATO enlargement placing all applicant countries on an equal footing.`With the support of a large part of the countries, we managed to discard a wording in the resolution according to which Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia should be admitted in the next round of enlargement and the rest of the countries should be invited in 2005,` Ilchev said.`The NATO Parliamentary Assembly will hold its next session in Sofia in May 2002,` Ilchev added.

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