Europe

NATO, Russia agree to continue constructive dialogue

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-15 01:13

Defense ministers from NATO members and Russia agreed Thursday to stick to constructive dialogue on issues including defense and security cooperation, and international security issues.

At the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) session, part of the NATO defense ministers' meeting on Thursday and Friday, the two sides discussed a range of current international security issues, including missile defense and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.

The NRC meeting was held amid ongoing dramas over the U.S. plan of a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, under which Washington will set up a radar base in the Czech Republic and deploy missile interceptors in Poland in the name of defending possible attacks from "rogue" regimes.

Russia strongly opposes the U.S. plan, accusing Washington of raising a new arms race in the region, which the latter denies.

At a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it might drop its opposition to the U.S. missile defense plan if Washington shifted its radar base to Azerbaijan.

Putin and Bush are expected to discuss the proposal at their meeting in July.

In a statement issued after the NRC meeting, both sides reiterated the NRC's value as "a forum for constructive dialogue on issues where there is agreement and for building clarity and understanding where there is disagreement."

NATO ministers welcomed the recent ratification of the Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement by the Russian Federal Assembly, describing it as "an important step toward expanding practical military cooperation."

"It will open a new range of possibilities in practical cooperation which we can begin to consider today," NATO Secretary- General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the NATO-Russia Founding Act and the fifth anniversary of the NRC.