MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - NATO-Russian relations need significant improvement, so new mechanisms of teamwork must be worked out, NATO Secretary General George Robertson told the press following his meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo.
Numerous proposals on this matter that have been made by national leaders of NATO member states have and will come up for discussion during this visit to Russia, Robertson said.
NATO and Russia face a common threat of global terrorism and are engaged in unprecedented cooperation in countering it, he said.
The biggest question is whether Russia and NATO can move to a level of cooperation that will enable them to actively cooperate in other fields in addition to putting an end to terrorism, Robertson said.
Rushailo confirmed that Robertson and he had agreed on the need to dramatically improve Russian-NATO cooperation and work out new mechanisms of teamwork.
Numerous leaders of NATO member nations, in particular British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, are aware of this need, he said.
Meanwhile, defense issues are being left out of the dialogue with NATO, Rushailo said.