Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle spoke over the phone today (23 December) with his Chinese colleague Yang Jiechi. Their conversation focused on bilateral relations and international climate policy.

Yang and Westerwelle shared the view that international efforts to combat climate change were of great importance.

Westerwelle underlined that, based on the results of the Copenhagen conference, which represented an initial step towards a binding treaty, further measures must now follow. He invited Yang to cooperate constructively with Germany under the auspices of the United Nations and at the climate conference scheduled to take place in Bonn in June 2010 in order to achieve further progress. He felt that the G 20 too offered a suitable forum for talks on international climate policy.

Both ministers paid tribute to the fact that bilateral relations rested on a solid basis and expressed support for the common goal of intensifying the strategic partnership between both countries, including by meeting in person soon.