New era of co-operation

Russia has agreed to co-operate with NATO and will discuss pursuing a US-led anti-missile network in Europe at the end of a summit hailed as signalling a new era in the relationship between the two former Cold War enemies. In a joint statement, Russia and the 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies said they would work together to contribute to ''the creation of a common space of peace, security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area'' and would co-operate on piracy and counter-terrorism as well as negotiate ''missile defence co-operation''. The US President, Barack Obama, told the summit Russia was now a ''partner, not an adversary'' and the ''source of past tension'' was now a source of potential co-operation ''against a shared threat''. Advertisement: Story continues below  The Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, stressed the partnership had to be a fully fledged strategic one with NATO or it would be ''a no-go''. However, he praised Mr Obama's decision to abandon the missile shield plans put forward by the Bush administration.