Financial reforms

Germany and the US on Monday agreed to cooperate on economic issues and support reform to the financial sector that must be led by the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations.

"There is a strong will to cooperate," German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle said after a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Washington. "And the G20 is the right framework for that."

The G20 are to meet in June in Canada to discuss the consequences of the global financial crisis.

Bruederle said the goal of his visit to Washington was to strengthen transatlantic economic relations and to discuss the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

"In these difficult times, it is my goal to work towards a more intensive cooperation on as many issues as possible," he said.

Concern over growing protectionism

Among the issues discussed with Geithner was the future of carmaker Opel, a European subsidiary of US giant General Motors. Last year, GM scrapped plans to sell Opel to a Canadian-Russian consortium backed by the German government.

Geithner assured Bruederle that even though the US government has a majority stake in the US carmaker, Washington had little influence on the decisions of the GM management.

The two politicians also discussed the growing role of China in international trade and addressed concerns over protectionism in the wake of the global recession.

The trip to Washington is Bruederle's first visit to the US as economics minister. On Tuesday he is to meet with his counterpart Gary Locke and representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the US Federal Bank.

ai/dpa/AFP
Editor: Rob Turner