Merkel to meet Gordon Brown in Berlin

New prime minister Gordon Brown will travel to Berlin next week for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German government said today.

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will travel to Berlin next week for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German government said today.

Mr Brown and Ms Merkel will meet at the chancellery in Berlin on Monday evening, said Ulrich Wilhelm, the German chancellor’s spokesman.

Mr Wilhelm said the meeting would address “European and international issues,” but did not elaborate on specific points the two leaders might discuss.

Germany, Europe’s most populous country, currently holds the presidency of the Group of Eight industrial powers.

It handed over the European Union’s rotating presidency to Portugal at the beginning of this month.