PRATICA DI MARE (Italy), May 28: Excerpts of the Rome Declaration, officially titled “Nato-Russia Relations: A New Quality”:

“At the start of the 21st century, we live in a new, closely interrelated world in which unprecedented new threats and challenges demand increasingly united responses. Consequently, we, the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Russian Federation are today opening a new page in our relations...

“In the framework of the Nato-Russia Council, Nato member states and Russia will work as equal partners in areas of common interest. The Nato-Russia Council will provide a mechanism for consultation, consensus-building, cooperation, joint decision, and joint action... on a wide spectrum of security issues in the Euro-Atlantic region.

“The Nato-Russia Council will serve as the principal structure and venue for advancing the relationship between Nato and Russia. It will operate on the basis of consensus. It will work on the basis of a continuous political dialogue on security issues among its members with a view to earlly identification of emerging problems, determination of optimal common approaches and the conduct of joint actions, as appropriate...

“The Nato-Russia Council will be chaired by the secretary general of Nato. It will meet at the level of foreign ministers and at the level of defense ministers twice annually, and at the level of heads of state and government as appropriate. Meetings of the council at ambassadorial level will be held at least once a month, with the possibility of more frequent meetings as needed... Under the auspices of the council, military representatives and chiefs of staff will also meet...

“As initial steps... we have today agreed the following cooperative efforts:

— “Struggle against terrorism: strengthen cooperation through a multi-faceted approach, including joint assessments of the terrorist threat to the Euro-Atlantic area, focused on specific threats, for example, to Russian and Nato forces, to civilian aircraft, or to critical infrastructure; an initial step will be a joint assessment of the terrorist threat to Nato, Russia and partner peacekeeping forces in the Balkans.AFP