Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said after talks with his U.S. counterpart Hillary Clinton in Washington, that it was important at upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago to send “strong, positive message” to those countries, including Georgia, willing to join the Alliance.

“It’s also important to get strong, positive message to countries which want to get NATO membership in foreseeable future, countries like Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina,” the Estonian Foreign Minister said on March 27 in opening remarks during a joint news conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“And of course, once more, to stress the strong security of transatlantic relations, but also strong security of Europe, including Article 5, it is also from our point of view absolutely important as one of the outcomes of Chicago summit,” Foreign Minister Paet added.

In her opening remarks at the joint news conference Secretary Clinton expressed the U.S. support to Estonia efforts directed towards helping EU’s Eastern Partnership countries to “build effective, free market, and democratic institutions.”

“Estonia has maintained a strong assistance and development program in Eastern partnership countries, particularly Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova,” Clinton said.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry in cooperation with the Estonian School of Diplomacy launched last year the Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership to provide training to senior and mid-level civil servants mainly from the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries, including Georgia.