Her comments came at the opening of the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy, which is being attended by 250 officials, including 40 defense and foreign ministers. Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was expected to attend today's session.
Merkel, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, also said that a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan is testing NATO's commitment, and that a joint military and political strategy is needed to stabilize the country.
On Russian Energy
With Russian President Vladimir Putin listening, Merkel also said she had confidence that Russia can be a reliable energy supplier for Europe, and called for closer ties between the EU and Moscow to prevent the chance of instability.
Putin delivered the two-day conference's keynote speech today.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Posted February 10th, 2007 by Dinka
