Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday NATO supports peace efforts over the Ukraine crisis.

Stoltenberg made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which opened on Friday in the southern German city of Munich.

The NATO chief said the efforts by German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis are "important and urgent."

Hollande and Merkel made the trip to Kiev in a new attempt to resolve peacefully the Ukrainian crisis amid escalating conflict between government troops and pro-independence forces in Ukraine, which has killed more than 5,300 people since April 2014. The fighting in the eastern regions of Ukraine has intensified over the past two weeks.

Stoltenberg said there was no contradiction between defence and dialogue. "A strong NATO is essential if we are to engage Russia with confidence. A constructive NATO-Russia relationship would benefit the Euro-Atlantic community," he said.

"Last year was a turning point for European security and for the global order," he said, adding that the conflict in Ukraine is deepening and North Africa and the Middle East are also in turmoil.

The Ukraine crisis and the collapse of the international order in view of the crisis are among the key topics of the three-day meeting.

The MSC also includes topics ranging from the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, global refugees crisis to the fight against terrorism, according to the announcement of the MSC. Enditem

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