Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BRUSSELS, April 17 (Xinhua) -- NATO is beginning a new era in relations with Iraq, the bloc's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Thursday.

    "This is the start of a new era in the relationship between Iraq and NATO," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters, referring to the visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

    He said al-Maliki presented proposals for the development of a long-term "structured cooperation framework" at the decision-making North Atlantic Council.

    "Now what will happen in the near future is that we will work to give substance to this structured cooperation framework," he said.

    NATO will consider the Iraqi proposals and also develop its own, said de Hoop Scheffer.

    Al-Maliki asked NATO to enhance its training and equipping of Iraqi security forces. NATO heads of state and government agreed at a recent summit in Bucharest, Romania, to extend the NATO training mission in Iraq till the end of 2009.

    "Now we are requesting an enhancing of the activities of the NATO mission in Iraq to enable it to conduct more tasks and help us get to our ultimate goal of achieving self-sufficiency for our troops and preserving security," al-Maliki said.

    NATO has trained over 10,000 members of the Iraqi security forces since 2004.