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Seven years after NATO bombed Serbia, the military alliance has welcomed Belgrade as a privileged partner, along with Bosnia and Montenegro, independent since the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
In a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, President Boris Tadic signed Serbia up to the alliance's Partnership for Peace programme, in the presence of the 26 members' ambassadors and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer.
“The decision to invite us to join is of great historical importance not only for my country and our region but I believe for all the countries represented in this room,” he told them.
The partnerships are a first contractual step made toward the alliance but they offer no guarantee of eventual membership.
Tadic also pledged to do everything in his power to track down former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who is at large and wanted by the UN war crimes court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“I … consider it a moral imperative that all fuguitives from justice, Ratko Mladic in particular, be located, arrested and extradited to The Hague” base of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, he said.
“I have pledged to commit all relevant resources to that end and I intend to keep my promise,” he went on.
“Serbia goes to the polls on January 21st. I am greatly optimistic that the new democratic government will be fully committed to extraditing all the indicted war criminals.”
Earlier, Bosnia-Hercegovina got the ball rolling with Nebojsa Radmanovic, who heads the country's tripartite presidency, taking part in the first of three separate signing ceremonies, followed by individual press conferences.
Twelve years after the end of the Cold War forced NATO to intervene in a ravaged Bosnia “the dream of Bosnia Hercegovina has come true,” he said.
NATO was forced to intervene as the strife-ravaged Yugoslavia disintegrated and alliance chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at the signing ceremony that “Euro-Atlantic integration is the answer to the problems of the region”.
Radmanovic said Bosnia was was also ready to cooperate with the UN war crimes court, which is hunting Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic.
“Not only the presidency of Bosnia-Hercegovina is committed to cooperate but also the people of Bosnia Hercegovina,” he said. “Not only because we know it's our obligation but because we want to fulfill all standards”.
Last week, UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said the international community was losing interest in Karadzic and Mladic and warned the European Union not to strengthen ties with Belgrade.
The two have evaded charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity leveled 11 years ago by the ICTY.
Thursday's ceremonies bring the number of NATO partnership nations to 49 (26 NATO members plus 23 partners).
