German President Horst Koehler congratulated on Tuesday new U.S. President Barack Obama in a telegram on his inauguration and invited him to visit Germany soon.

"It's largely thanks to our American friends that we Germans are celebrating this year our freedom and unification," Koehler wrote in the message.

Earlier on the day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also welcomed Obama in remarks broadcast on German television.

"I hope that our cooperation is shaped by listening to one another, and making decisions on the basis that one country alone cannot solve the world's problems," Merkel said on German state broadcaster ARD. "This is the spirit in which I will encounter him, " she added.

The German chancellor expects a stronger multilateral approach to the financial crisis.

"This means that, when dealing with international agreements, the United States of America will also need to offer up some of its own sovereignty to international organizations," she said.

Meanwhile, German newspaper Rheinische Post reported that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hoped to visit Washington by mid-February to meet the new U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton there.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)