WASHINGTON -- President Reagan telephoned Chancellor Helmut Kohl Sunday to congratulate him on his election victory and reaffirm U.S.-West German ties, a spokesman said.
Reagan told Kohl he 'looks forward to working together as they and our governments have done in the past on the economic and security challenges which our nations face,' White House spokesman Robin Gray said.
Reagan also 'reaffirmed strong U.S.-F.R.G. (Federal Republic of Germany) ties,' Gray said.
The State Department issued a statement that said: 'We're very pleased that they had a successful election. This demonstrates once again the strength and stability of German democracy. We worked well with Chancellor Kohl in the past and look forward to more cooperation in the future.'
Reagan made no secret of his preference for Kohl, who campaigned on the need to deploy new U.S. nuclear missiles on West German soil as Reagan wants.
Kohl's coalition of Christian Democrats and Free Democrats easily defeated the opposition Social Democrats led by Hans-Jochen Vogel in the parliamentary elections. Vogel opposed the missile deployment.
Reagan phoned Kohl about 4 p.m. EST, Gray said. Secretary of State George Shultz phoned Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher 45 minutes later, State Department spokeswoman Carolyn Jones said.
