BRUSSELS, April 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said here Thursday that the military alliance should cooperate better with the European Union (EU) and other partners.

    Speaking at an annual conference on transformation, he said: "We also need to strengthen the relationship, and the dialogue, with the European Union."

    "We should be discussing all the areas where both organizations are engaged, to support each other and to avoid duplication," he said.

    He said that there are also critical issues of capability development that need to be explored more fully, for example harmonizing commitments to the EU's Battle Groups and the NATO's Response Force.

    "The NATO-EU agenda is artificially constrained for reasons which can, and should be put behind us as soon as possible. NATO and the European Union both work to build security and promote democracy and freedom. That is why both organizations are already involved in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, in North Africa and in the Middle East," the NATO chief said.

    As the membership of these two organizations increasingly overlaps, he said that closer cooperation will become inevitable.

    On the military capability building of these two organizations, he said: "It is naive to imagine that the European Union can develop a military capability to rival that of NATO, which includes the US. It would be equally naive to propose that NATO should develop the civil capabilities available within the European Union."

    He also pointed out that both organizations have comparative advantages. The EU has huge expertise in police training, judicial reform, economic assistance, and reconstruction while NATO has robust military capabilities, and long experience in peace operations.

    "While both organizations can be effective in isolation, we can do more good, bring more security to more people if we talk and work together," he added. Enditem