The United States and Germany will continue to cooperate closely despite the row over alleged US spying in Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting his US counterpart John Kerry, dpa reported. It was the first high-level encounter between officials from the two countries since Berlin expelled Washington's CIA station chief this week. Although there had been "some hardships in our bilateral cooperation over the past weeks," German-US relations were indispensable for both sides, Steinmeier said. "That is why we want to work on reviving these relations, on the basis of trust and mutual respect," he added. Kerry said: "The relationship between the United States and Germany is a strategic one. We have enormous political cooperation and we are great friends."
