On 19 March Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation with the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Their discussion focused on bilateral and international issues, in particular on efforts to combat climate change. The Chancellor informed the Chinese Prime Minister of the results of the European Council meeting and asked for his support for the European decisions to cut CO2 emissions. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised that China would be stepping up its own efforts to protect the global climate and pledged constructive cooperation with the German G8 presidency with a view to the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. He announced that Chinese environmental experts would be attending the meeting of G8 states and major emerging economies to be held in early May in Germany.
The Chancellor and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao also consulted on the further handling of the Iranian nuclear issue in the United Nations Security Council. In view of Iran's continuing refusal to cooperate satisfactorily, the two sides agreed that the draft resolution currently under discussion by the UN Security Council must be adopted swiftly, and efforts made to identify a political solution on the basis of international solidarity.