(STRASBOURG) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a positive reception Thursday to Russia's call for a sweeping new security pact which would replace the old Cold War-era treaties.

"I am interested by this proposal for security from Vancouver to Vladivostok," he told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"Anything which can help ease relations between Russia and the European Union must be encouraged," he said, adding that the idea had been discussed at the G8 summit in Japan this week.

In a speech in Berlin early last month, new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a European summit that would start to draw up such a new security pact.

He raised the idea again at an EU-Russia summit in Siberia, underlining that the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the NATO military alliance had been unable to resolve Europe's security problems.

EU leaders also expressed interest in the idea but said they were waiting for Russia to explain it in more detail.

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