15 years from Albania's NATO entry

On April 1, 2009, Albania became a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO, after the ratification of the Membership Protocol by all Allied countries and the deposit of the NATO accession instrument at the State Department, which is also the legal holder of the Washington Treaty.

By becoming a party to this Treaty and NATO member state, Albania fulfilled a strategic goal and a primary objective of foreign policy, significantly advancing in the realisation of its national interests.

Albania's first full-fledged NATO membership was held at the Alliance's Summit, which was held in Strasbourg/Kehl on April 4th 2009, while on April 7th 2009, at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, the official flag raising ceremony of Albania and Croatia was held in NATO, while the Alliance's later secretary general paid an official visit to Albania, during which the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Tirana.

Albania's NATO membership came as a result of the Alliance's important decision to expand on April 3rd 2008 by all 26 heads of state and government of the Alliance during a special session of the Bucharest Summit, through which Albania and Croatia were invited to start membership talks.

This decision came after the closure of Albania's <x0 Membership Action Plan 9th cycle with NATO, and after conducting a series of reforms aimed at meeting the criteria needed for Alliance membership.