Baden-Baden, Germany - NATO leaders failed to agree on the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's next secretary general during dinner talks in the German city of Baden-Baden, officials said Friday.

Rasmussen, 56, had been tipped as the frontrunner to replace the current NATO chief, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, when the Dutchman steps down at the end of July.

Officials said discussions on the next NATO chief would resume on Saturday, when NATO leaders were due to meet in the French city of Strasbourg for the second day of the alliance's 60th anniversary summit. (dpa)