Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-06-27

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] NATO chief, PM address Alliance-Russia meeting on Corfu

[01] NATO chief, PM address Alliance-Russia meeting on Corfu

Noting that Saturday's meeting followed a serious crisis, Scheffer described as "particularly significance the common decision" for the meeting, which he said would aspire to advancing the work of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in the prospect of a military cooperation.

He said that the cooperation for peace is a process of strategic importance, stressing that the NATO-Russia cooperation is founded on the principles of the Rome Declaration and the common volition for a constructive and sincere dialgue.

Referring to the search for an architecture on security issues, Scheffer stressed that the meeting had the ability to contribute to stability in Europe, while he also thanked the Greek hosts of the meeting for the "pleasant environment and generous hospitality".

Scheffer, in his last public appearance as the NATO chief, turned over the podium to Greece's prime minister Costas Karamanlis, who stressed that the development of good relations betwen NATO and Russia "is of great importance", and welcomed all the foreign ministers attending, and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (who had just arrived in the conference hall), while he also expressed his conviction that the Corfu meeting would enable the NATO-Russia relationship to take steps forward.

Before the commencment of the meeting, Karamanlis, accompanied by foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis, had a private meeting with Scheffer.

Speaking to reporters, the Russian envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin noted that Moscow's goal was an analysis of the state of the Russia-NATO relationship, as well as an appraisal of the conditions. "We want to see whether the conditions have ripened for a prospective commencment of the process of military cooperation," he said.

British foreign secretary David Miliband, in reply to a press question, noted that "it is important to understand that there are new threats in the area of security, and it is better to face them together with Russia, rather than without Russia".

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