This combination of pictures created on July 13, 2016 shows (R) Britain's Home Secretary and new leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May arriving in Downing Street in London on July 12, 2016 and German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiling as she addresses the media at the end of the second day of an EU - Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 29, 2016 (Photo: AFP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she had invited Britain's new prime minister Theresa May for talks in Berlin and that she was looking forward to working with her.
"It's our task to work very closely with governments of ally countries," Merkel told a news conference after talks in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, adding there were many problems in the world that made such close cooperation necessary.
The chancellor said she spoke to May on the phone late on Wednesday and invited her for talks in Berlin. "I look forward to working together," she added.
Merkel declined to comment on May's surprise decision to appoint Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner who had until recently been seen as her main rival for the prime minister's job, as foreign secretary.
On Wednesday, May's office said that she had told Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on the phone that her government would need time before beginning talks on Britain's exit from the European Union.
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