Brussels - NATO's new secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, vowed to step up military cooperation in Afghanistan during their first meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

During what was described as a "positive" and "friendly" meeting, NATO officials said Rasmussen and Rogozin had agreed that the sides should also work together in the global fight against nuclear disarmament and against piracy.

NATO and Russia have both deployed warships to the Gulf of Aden to deal with the threat of piracy there, with NATO despatching half a dozen frigates and Russia one or two destroyers, depending on the season. Russia has also made transit routes available to NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

Relations between NATO and Russia soured after last summer's conflict in Georgia, a would-be NATO member, and have been slow to recover.

NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said Rasmussen could soon be meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and that the secretary general considered the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) - the regular format for talks between the Cold War foes - "a priority."

"Both sides, and the secretary general in particular, are determined to explore all ways to take the NRC forward and discuss the real security issues," Romero said.

Diplomats are eyeing December as the month for a possible NRC meeting involving foreign ministers.

Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, said during his first meeting with the press as NATO chief in early August that "areas of disagreement" between the alliance and Moscow should not "poison the whole relationship." (dpa)