11.   Other nations, including the former Soviet bloc states of Romania and Czech Republic, have offered personnel.

12.   That would mean, he said, that former Soviet bloc states would be denied the chance to integrate with the wealthier, more democratically open west.

13.   The accords foresee eventual EU membership for the former East bloc states, but set no date.

14.   The partnership offers former Soviet bloc states a form of cooperation with its old enemy, NATO.

15.   The participants also discussed developing cooperation in economy, communications, transport, ecology, science and culture to help bring former East bloc states into the European Union.

16.   From the Middle Ages its rolling plains provided major exports to western and northern Europe, while under communism it exported to the eastern bloc states.

17.   German Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced Wednesday that he was inviting six former Soviet bloc states to attend an upcoming European Union summit.

18.   He spoke at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after signing the Partnership for Peace program of military cooperation between NATO and former Eastern bloc states.

19.   Hopes were high, buoyed by the reforms taking place in the Soviet Union and the impending end of communism in Hungary and other East bloc states.

20.   Hungary and two other former Soviet bloc states, Poland and the Czech Republic, are front-runners in negotiations for EU membership.