In addresses to the annual Munich security conference, both German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was still a crucial institution at the core of the transatlantic security relationship.

"However, it is no longer the primary venue where transatlantic partners discuss and coordinate strategies," Schröder, who did not attend the conference due to illness, said in a speech read by his Defense Minister Peter Struck to top-level defense and security experts from around the world.

The German leader said there had been "strains, mistrust and even tensions" between the United States and the European Union in recent years and while a US troop presence in Europe was still of "political significance," it was no longer the security priority that it was during the Cold War.

Schröder calls for review

The security dialogue between the United States and the European Union "in its current form does justice neither to the Union's growing importance nor to the new demands on transatlantic cooperation," Schröder said, but "no one can produce ready answers" on how to change it.

The German leader called for creation by the governments of the European Union and the United States of a high-ranking panel of independent figures to propose ways of revitalizing their security ties and adapting them to post-Cold War challenges.

Rumsfeld: "Most impressive alliance"

Rumsfeld was more enthusiastic in his endorsement of NATO as an historic security institution with valuable past achievements and numerous prospects for future development, but also said that as a large, slow-moving institution it was sometimes of limited use in facing fast-moving threats.

"NATO is the most impressive military alliance in the history of mankind, but it is what it is," Rumsfeld said. "There are some times when things have to happen fairly rapidly."

The NATO alliance, Rumsfeld said, "has navigated through some choppy seas over the years" and had always found a way to reconcile even sharp differences. That should happen again in order to maximize cooperation in fighting new threats such as Islamic extremism and weapons proliferation.

"Today, we share a common enemy," Rumsfeld said. "Radical Islamists do not seek an armistice with the civilized world. They will not negotiate a separate peace. Rather they seek to impose the totalitarian rule George Orwell described as 'a boot stomping on a human face - forever.'

"It will take the cooperation of many nations to stop the proliferation of dangerous weapons. Proliferation is a global concern, and it requires a global effort."

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"Mission Defines Coalition"

But Rumsfeld, who arrived at the Munich conference from Iraq where he visited US troops on Friday, steered clear of pointing to NATO as the primary vehicle for confronting new global security challenges, notably terrorism.

"This important work extends beyond the Atlantic alliance to a 90-nation coalition that includes old friends on every continent," the US defense secretary said.

Rumsfeld, who coined the term "the mission defines the coalition" ahead of the US-led war on Iraq, made clear Saturday that this principle was still very much at the center of new US security thinking.

"Were you to reverse it and say the coalition defines the mission, that would have meant nothing would have happened in Liberia, if you're talking about that NATO coalition, or Haiti or any number of other activities," Rumsfeld said.

EU, US close on Iran

On one of the most pressing international security issues of the moment, Iran's nuclear program, Schröder called on the United States to "actively support" efforts led by Germany, Britain and France to persuade Tehran through diplomatic talks to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Rumsfeld responded that "there's not much daylight" between the approaches on Iran of the United States and the three European Union countries and said Washington had "hope" the European initiative would produce the desired results.

NATO chief: No need for review

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer meanwhile said here on Saturday the Alliance was "alive and kicking" and doubted whether an independent review of the body As suggested by Schröder would produce anything new.

"I think the result of a high-level panel might well be that the advice would be to re-invent NATO," he said. "In other words, I think NATO is the primary form of transatlantic consultations and it should stay that way."

Anyway, de Hoop Scheffer said, "I would rather see us doing transatlantic relations than discussing them. NATO definitely does not need oxygen."

Alliance must prepare for Middle East role

He also said the alliance must prepare for a possible role in maintaining a future agreement to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We should not shy away from starting to think about a potential role for NATO in supporting a Middle East peace agreement," de Hoop Scheffer said. "If the call comes to NATO, this Alliance must be prepared to respond positively and to play its full part."

However before NATO troops were deployed, there would have to be a peace agreement and the agreement of both Israel and the Palestinians, the Dutchman said.

"We are not yet at a point where an active NATO role is on the cards," he added.

Struck: Germany will fulfil responsibilities

Germany's Struck told the conference that Germany was prepared to contribute troops to any NATO force in the Middle East.

Germany "would fulfil its responsibilities to NATO," Struck said.