Update: Merkel Renews U.S. Ties, Asks For Stronger Partnership Against Climate Change

November 3, 2009 1:44 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about her childhood in communist Germany and called for stronger collaboration with the United States in nuclear non-proliferation and climate change in her address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

Speaking in her native language, Merkel thanked the United States for its role in German reunification. She spoke about American contributions to her nation's history, saying Ronald Reagan's appeal to "tear down" the Berlin Wall "will remain forever in my heart."

"I am deeply convinced that Europe will not find a better partner than America, nor will America find a better partner than Europe," she said to applause. "What brings Europeans and Americans together is not only a common history [or] shared interests and common global challenges. There is more to it: a common basis of shared values -- it is a common idea of the individual and its inalienable dignity."

"No doubt about it, in December the world will look to us, to the Europeans and to the Americans," Merkel also said, referring to the United Nations climate conference next month in Copenhagen. "It is true, there can be no agreement without China and India. But I'm convinced once we in Europe and in America show ourselves ready to adopt binding agreements we will also be able to persuade China and India to join  in."

World leaders have been discussing a new framework to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. The U.N. holds a two-day conference on Dec. 11 in Denmark to secure an agreement.

Germany and the United States, as part of the G8, adopted a 2°C global warming limit in July. That G8 summit in Italy also yielded "unprecedented commitments" from the 16-member Major Economies Forum and other developing nations on the goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by half by 2050. The emissions target includes an 80 percent reduction by industrialized nations, a concession China and India had refused to accept.

Merkel was the first German chancellor to address a joint session of Congress, Konrad Adenauer being the only other one to speak before American lawmakers when he spoke separately to the two chambers of Congress in 1957. Her speech marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as her re-election for a second term as chancellor.

Before her address, she met with President Barack Obama, who said in brief comments to reporters at the Oval Office, "Germany has been an extraordinarily strong ally on a whole host of international issues. We appreciate the sacrifices of German soldiers in Afghanistan... Chancellor Merkel has been an extraordinary leader on the issue of climate change. And on economic issues, on issues like nuclear proliferation, consistently I found Chancellor Merkel to be thoughtful, to be energetic, and to have a strong vision of how we can move forward in the future."