Nato leaders failed to reach a consensus on whether to extend an invitation to Macedonia yet agreed on welcoming Croatia and Albania as the alliance's two new members, international media reported on April 3.

The 26-member alliance is gathering for a three-day summit in Bucharest, starting April 2.

A diplomat told Reuters news agency that the invitation to Macedonia would be postponed over a row over its name with Greece. Greece, a Nato member state, insists that Macedonia is a name belonging to its northernmost province.

Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos confirmed the news.

The discord within the 26-member alliance is a blow to the administration of US president George Bush, who hoped that the summit would help polish his foreign policy legacy. Earlier in the day, Bush extended an emphatic call for an invitation to all three countries.

A score of Nato members, among them France and Germany, also rebuffed the US call to extend membership action plans to Ukraine and Georgia, to the delight of Russia, which vehemently opposes eastward expansion of Nato.

The Nato summit in Bucharest started with an opening dinner where each leader was given the floor for opening remarks.

The main topics under discussion would be the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic alliance, the deployment of a US missile shield in Europe, France's plans to regain full membership of the alliance and boosting the number of Nato troops in Afghanistan.