Chancellor Merkel meets President Biden at White House

US President Joe Biden has welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House.

He met Merkel on Thursday in the Oval Office. After a short conversation in private, Biden and Merkel were to exchange views for almost two hours in the presence of their delegations. Later in the afternoon, expected around 2015 GMT, they wanted to answer questions from journalists together.

Shortly before the meeting with Merkel, Biden, a Democrat, had said he was looking forward to welcoming Merkel to the White House. The partnership between the US and Germany is "ironclad," he said. They are determined to tackle common challenges together in the coming years, he wrote on Twitter.

Merkel had already met Vice President Kamala Harris in the morning. She is the first head of government from Europe to be received by Biden at the White House since he took office on January 20.