German chancellor Merkel to address joint session of US Congress

German government's policies on the country's continued military engagement in Afghanistan will be high on the agenda of Chancellor Angela Merkel as she embarks on her visit to the US today.
   
Merkel will meet US president Barack Obama and discuss among other issues, the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Pakistan, Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    
The Chancellor, who kicked off a second four-year term on Wednesday as the head of a new conservative-liberal coalition government, will become the first German head of government to address the joint session of US Congress in five decades.
   
In her weekly internet podcast, Merkel said it was a great honour for her to address a joint session of the US Senate and the House of Representatives after the country's first post-war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer visited the Capitol Hill over 50 years ago.
    
She said she would thank the United States for its contributions to the German reunification in 1990 -- 11 months after the Wall's fall.
    
"The United States helped us in our reunification and to become partners in Europe and in the North Atlantic Alliance," Chancellor Merkel said.

Merkel, who was a young physicist in East Germany at the time of the disintegration of the communist regime, said she has good memories of the events leading to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
    
During her visit to Washington, she said she wants to thank the US administration at that time under the leadership of president George Bush senior for its support to reunify the nation, which was divided at the end of the World War II.
    
In her wide ranging talks with President Obama, she said, she will reaffirm that Germany remains a dependable and close partner of the US in solving major international challenges.
    
The German chancellor said that she would also aim to make headway ahead of the UN conference in Copenhagen in December where 192 countries will work towards an accord on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
    
"It is still not certain whether an agreement on an internationally binding treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions could be reached in Copenhagen," Merkel said.
    
Observing that combating climate change is a task which cannot be postponed and the whole world is looking at Copenhagen to come up with concrete decisions to move forward, she said that it is necessary that "we use the remaining weeks to work with the Americans to prepare for a successful outcome of the conference".
    
The two leaders will also review the progress made in building up a new financial architecture, which was agreed at the recent G-20 summit the President had hosted in Pittsburgh, she said.
    
"The global financial and economic crisis is not yet over and we have not done enough to make sure that it will not happen again," Merkel said.