Bush wants NATO to welcome European democracies

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Bush wants Georgia and Ukraine to start the process of joining NATO, despite resistance from Russia and scepticism from the alliance's European members.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - NATO membership "must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it," U.S. President George W. Bush will say in a speech on Wednesday before the start of an alliance summit in Romania.

Bush wants Georgia and Ukraine to start the process of joining NATO, despite resistance from Russia and scepticism from the alliance's European members.

He will also say in the speech, issued to reporters ahead of delivery, that NATO's top priority must be fighting al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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