Brussels - Pierre Harmel, a former Belgian prime minister credited with creating the Cold War era's detente between East and West, has died aged 98, Belgian media reported Monday. A lawyer and Christian Democratic politician, Harmel served as Belgium's foreign minister and as the country's premier for a brief spell, between July 1965 and March 1966.
But he is better know for developing the so-called detente policy aimed at easing tensions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the 1970s.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen paid tribute to Harmel, saying the politician had "played a crucial role in shaping NATO, and Euro-Atlantic security relations more broadly."
As Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, he prepared a report titled "Future Tasks of the Alliance," which was adopted by alliance leaders in December 1967.
"The 'Harmel Doctrine' advocated a strong defence combined with good diplomatic relations with the countries of the Warsaw Pact, and helped to pave the way for the East-West detente of the early 1970s," Rasmussen said in a statement.
