French foreign minister at German Cabinet under new pact

BERLIN – France’s foreign minister is attending a meeting of Germany’s Cabinet, following up on a friendship treaty that the two European powers signed earlier this year.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said as he welcomed French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday he hoped the visit was “setting in motion a long-lasting tradition.” The two ministers are set to meet again in New York later this week, where Germany is co-ordinating its presidency of the U.N. Security Council in April with France’s presidency this month.

France and Germany signed a pact in January renewing the decades-old friendship between two countries that have traditionally led European integration but also had frequent disagreements. It calls for a member of one country’s government to attend the other’s Cabinet at least once per quarter.