German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Tuesday at the start of consultations between their two governments, reported dpa. The two leaders were joined by their foreign ministers for the talks at Schloss Meseberg, the German government guest house some 70 kilometres from Berlin. Transport and economics ministers from the two countries were holding their own bilateral meetings on a range of issues. Prodi said in an interview with Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily Tuesday that there were no problems in relations between his country and Germany. He said the talks with Merkel would concentrate on closer cooperation in the fields of transportation and energy.
