On April 1, 2009, Albania became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO, after the ratification of the Accession 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 part of this Treaty and a member state of NATO, Albania fulfilled a strategic goal and a primary foreign policy objective, advancing in the realization of its national interests.

The first appearance of Albania as a full member of NATO was made at the Summit of the Alliance held in Strasbourg/Kehl on April 4, 2009, while on April 7, 2009, at the headquarters of the Alliance in Brussels, it took place the official ceremony of raising the flags of Albania and Croatia in NATO, while a day later the Secretary General of the Alliance paid an official visit to Albania during which he was awarded with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Tirana.

Albania’s membership in NATO came after the decision to expand the Alliance, which was on April 3, 2008, during a special session of the NATO Summit in Bucharest, attended by the 26 heads of states and government of the Alliance, through which Albania and Croatia were invited to start membership talks. This decision came after the closing of the 9th cycle of Albania’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) with NATO and after the implementation of a series of reforms aimed to the necessary criteria for membership in the Alliance.