Moscow: Two bitter Cold War rival spy agencies - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have pledged to pool their efforts in the global fight against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

At the FSB headquarters in Moscow yesterday (Dec 6, 2004) FBI director Robert Mueller and FSB director Nikolai Patrushev signed a memorandum of cooperation.

"The memorandum specifically provides for cooperation in a number of fields, primarily the fight against international terrorism, crimes connected with weapons of mass destruction and some other areas," Patrushev was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.

"We have already organised concrete actions before too, and they were quite successful. We plan more," he added saying that the signing of the memorandum will allow officers and experts of the two rival agencies to work more efficiently.

FBI chief Mueller said the memorandum was a step forward in co-operative efforts against new challenges, such as terrorism and organised crime.

The document allows the sides to exchange information on a number of issues.

Mueller thanked his Russian colleagues for cooperation and expressed the hope for joint work in the future.