NATO defense ministers to meet in Poland next March

WARSAW, April 30 (Xinhua) -- NATO defense ministers will meet in Cracow of Poland next March, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced on Wednesday.

Sikorski said that Poland's choice "means that in our tenth year in the Alliance we are ceasing to be a so called new member," Polish news agency PAP reported.

At a joint press conference in Warsaw, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said he was "convinced that this was not only a proof of our position in the North Atlantic Alliance but also a chance for our position to grow in the coming months and years."

A NATO source in Brussels said the summit will be very important as their participants will deal with preparations to the jubilee, 60th NATO anniversary, according to PAP.

NATO jubilee summit is said to be held on the French-German border in April 2009.