BRUSSELS, Nov 23: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that her new government would not join Nato’s training of Iraqi military officers inside Iraq.

On a visit to Nato headquarters a day after her inauguration, Merkel said the US-led alliance should be the central forum for transatlantic political cooperation and the first choice to tackle any security problem.

But asked whether she would change previous anti-war Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s refusal to get involved in Iraq, the conservative Merkel told reporters: “We made clear in the talks that we will continue not to take part in training inside Iraq, but that we will continue to conduct training in neighbouring countries. So there will be continuity with the previous policy.”—Reuters