French President Jacques Chirac on Monday congratulated incoming German conservative leader Angela Merkel and invited her to visit France as soon as possible, his office announced.

The invitation came after Germany's two biggest parties, Merkel 's Christian Democrats and outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, agreed to form a coalition government led by Merkel following an inconclusive general election.

Chirac said he was confident ties with Berlin would be strengthened under Merkel.

He also called Schroeder to hail his commitment to Franco-German ties and "expressed his confidence in Germany's ability to continue on the reform path".

Chirac "reaffirmed to her the priority he attaches to ties between France and Germany," his spokesman said.

The French president said Wednesday when he met with his German counterpart Horst Koehler in Paris that he was "convinced that Germany was committed to seeing through its modernizing policies, and that the friendship between Germany and France remained the indispensable motor of European construction".

Source: Xinhua