SAINT PETERSBURG, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - It is too soon for NATO to provide a membership action plan (MAP) to the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Thursday.

A NATO ministerial meeting in December that many predicted would be the occasion for the alliance to extend MAP to Georgia and Ukraine would instead be only 'an initial evaluation on the road to MAP,' Merkel told journalists.