Germany and Great Britain want to get closer together again. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) and his British ally Dominic Raab signed a joint declaration of intent on Wednesday (June 30) for closer cooperation on foreign and security policy issues.

According to the Foreign Office in Berlin, Great Britain had promised, among other things, to campaign for a permanent seat for Germany on the United Nations Security Council.

“The Joint Declaration of Intent reaffirms the common European and universal values ​​and interests on which the foreign policy of Germany and the United Kingdom is based,” the Foreign Office declared. The Declaration cites human rights including multilateralism, democracy, the rule of law and gender equality as examples.

Every year Berlin and London seek to hold “the Strategic Dialogue as an opportunity for deeper bilateral exchanges” – “also for the goal of closer cooperation between the EU and the United Kingdom”.

Great Britain left the European Union last year after 47 years as part of the European Community of States. In addition to many unanswered questions about trade or police cooperation, cooperation in foreign policy also has to be largely reorganized.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, Germany wants to work constructively in Brussels for good relations between the European Union and Great Britain. At the same time, Germany also assured that it would maintain “the greatest possible transparency compared to EU institutions and member states” in bilateral affairs with London.