During a joint press conference with the new Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that the two neighbouring countries were bound by close and friendly relations.

Refugee and asylum policy was one item on the agenda of the talks between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor at the Federal Chancellery. With regard to the numbers of asylum-seekers, Denmark has demonstrated a profound sense of responsibility over recent years said Angela Merkel. She added that "all further steps would be discussed with Denmark although the country is not part of the common law-making process".

German government welcomes planned referendum

Then the Chancellor came to the international issues she had discussed with the Danish Prime Minister. She welcomed the fact that Denmark has decided to "hold a referendum on replacing the country’s opt-out model on EU justice and home affairs with an opt-in model."

Also on the agenda were current international crises. Angela Merkel highlighted the common mission of the two countries in Afghanistan. In the Ukraine crisis too both countries represent "entirely the same standpoint" said the Chancellor. She identified a high level of agreement with respect to the British plans to hold a referendum.

Germany and Denmark will be taking a common position in the UN Climate Chance Conference in Paris, which both countries wish success, Angela Merkel continued.

Germany remains Denmark’s principal trading partner and Denmark, for its part, ranks 18th among suppliers of German imports and 20th among buyers of German exports. Germany’s main imports from Denmark are industrial products, machinery, food, agricultural produce, medical technology and pharmaceutical products. Its main exports to Denmark are machinery and motor vehicles, semi-finished and finished goods, chemicals, consumer goods and food. There is also direct investment in both directions: Danish companies have more than 2,000 subsidiaries in Germany, some 1,450 of which are registered with the Danish Trade Mission in Hamburg.

Cross-border infrastructure projects are particularly important for both countries. Transport links in the so-called Jutland corridor are to be further developed and cross-border cooperation stepped up in the traffic and transport sector. The two countries coordinate their activities closely in this area, especially where projects are already in the concrete planning and implementation phase like the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel.

60th anniversary of the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations

This year Germany is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations, which were signed on 29 March 1955 by the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Danish Prime Minister Hans Christian Hansen. They became the foundation of a deep understanding and friendship between the Germans and the Danes.

The declarations confirmed the rights of the German and Danish minorities on each side of the German-Danish border. They include above all the right to practice their language and culture and the entitlement of the roughly 20,000 Germans in Denmark and the 50,000 or so Danes living in Germany to equal treatment.