Agency Report –
Berlin – Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday had her first phone call with her new US counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We want to work closely with the new US administration,” the German Foreign Office quoted Baerbock as saying on the Bluesky social media platform after the 30-minute phone call.
“Europe wants to take more responsibility for its own security,” Baerbock stressed after the phone call held on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Germany and the US are linked by close economic relations and shared interests, the Foreign Office in Berlin said, adding that both countries were planning to tackle common challenges and opportunities together.
Baerbock and Rubio also discussed the importance of a strong NATO, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the situation in Syria, the Gaza Strip and the Middle East, and their position on China.
In a later statement, the US State Department said Rubio had “reaffirmed the strength and importance of the U.S.-German relationship for transatlantic peace and prosperity.”
“He and Foreign Minister Baerbock discussed deepening our ties across a wide range of mutual interests, including defense cooperation and stability in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific,” it added.
The first face-to-face meeting between Baerbock and Rubio is expected to take place at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.
The foreign ministers of the EU states of Poland, Lithuania and Italy have also spoken to Rubio on the phone.
