French foreign minister at German Cabinet under new pact

BERLIN (AP) - France's foreign minister is attending a meeting of Germany's Cabinet, following up on a friendship treaty that the two European powers signed earlier this year.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said as he welcomed French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday he hoped the visit was "setting in motion a long-lasting tradition." The two ministers are set to meet again in New York later this week, where Germany is coordinating its presidency of the U.N. Security Council in April with France's presidency this month.

France and Germany signed a pact in January renewing the decades-old friendship between two countries that have traditionally led European integration but also had frequent disagreements. It calls for a member of one country's government to attend the other's Cabinet at least once per quarter.