Merkel to meet Blair in London

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Britain on Friday to hold talks with her British counterpart Tony Blair, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

The two leaders will focus on topics of Germany's joint presidency of the European Union and the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations next year.

They will also talk about bilateral and international issues, according to Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm.

Merkel is set to reactivate the EU constitution, which was shelved after it was rejected by French and Dutch voters in the middle of 2005, when Germany holds the rotating EU presidency in the first half of next year.

Blair has been wary of the draft EU document and his Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett recently declared that she would oppose any attempt to revive it in its present form.

Germany will hold the presidency of the G8 for the whole year in 2007 and host in June the summit of Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States and Germany.

Source: Xinhua