German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Angela Merkel offers Donald Trump ‘close partnership’

Cooperation between Berlin and Washington is the ‘cornerstone of German foreign policy,’ the chancellor said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on the election victory, according to a government statement posted Friday.

Speaking to Trump on the phone Thursday, Merkel emphasized the common values of Germany and the U.S., according to deputy government spokesman Georg Streiter. At a press conference on Friday, Streiter said Merkel is looking forward to welcoming Trump in Germany at the G20 summit next year.

Merkel has sent a telegram to Trump on Wednesday, a day after he became president-elect, offering the new administration a close partnership. “With no country outside the EU do we have a deeper relation than with the United States of America,” Merkel was quoted as saying.

Among the values the two countries share, Merkel cited "democracy, freedom, respect for the law and human dignity regardless of background, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political conviction."

Based on these values, Merkel offered the president-elect "a close partnership," stressing that cooperation with the U.S. "remains a cornerstone of German foreign policy."