An agreement was signed Friday formalizing
the existing political cooperation Between NATO and the United Nations, NATO spokesman
James Appathurai said, dpa reported.
The paper was signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York by the secretary generals of both organizations, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for NATO
and Ban Ki Moon for the UN, Appathurai said.
The agreement did not bring about any "dramatic changes" for the cooperation in crisis regions like Afghanistan or Kosovo, where NATO acted on behalf of the UN, he added.
It was a "pragmatic agreement" recognising existing cooperation which was much appreciated, he said.
According to the German edition of the Financial Times, it was essentially France, the US and Britain who urged Ban to sign the agreement.