Germany's Schroeder to discuss euro-dollar exchange rate with Greenspan

BBC Monitoring International Reports

January 13, 2004

Berlin - Immediately before his meeting with US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD]) announced that the talks would focus on the euro-US dollar exchange rate. There was "no doubt about that," Schroeder said in Greenspan's presence after the Federal Reserve chairman was welcomed at the Chancellor's Office in Berlin, on Tuesday [13 January]. The US and the world economy would be discussed during the meeting, he added. Schroeder also expressed the hope that the ECB would meet its responsibility in view of the rising euro exchange rate.

The chancellor stressed he hoped that the ECB had "recently realized its special responsibility for the development of interest rates". He also said the hoped the ECB would make a corresponding statement. Greenspan, who will give a lecture at an event organized by the German Bundesbank in the evening, had earlier met Finance Minister Hans Eichel (SPD) and Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke at the Finance Ministry. Eichel and Welteke refused to comment on the meeting.

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Source: ddp news agency, Berlin, in German 1550 gmt 13 Jan 04 / BBC Monitoring

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