Grotere samenwerking tussen Frankrijk en Duitsland op onderwijs- en industriegebied (en)

France and Germany on Tuesday (26 October) agreed to recognise some of each other's professional qualifications in a bid to allow workers greater access to each other's labour markets.

During a meeting of the ministers from Paris and Berlin, the respective education ministers, Edelgard Bulmahn from Germany and Francois Fillon from France, announced that there would be a "general equivalence" between the qualifications obtained on either side of the Rhein.

Today's agreement follows many years of negotiation, according to French agency AFP.

Joint measures to promote the learning of French in German schools and German in their French equivalents were also discussed.

Friends again on industrial policy

There was also rapprochement on industrial policy as French finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy and German economics minister Wolfgang Clement said they would work "as closely as possible" on EU economic and industrial policies.

The two ministers also announced plans to establish a working group to study "the possibilities of co-operation ... between the companies of our two countries".

This follows a recent period of cooler relations between the close allies after Germany criticised certain decisions made by France as interventionist - notably the bailing-out of industrial giant Alstom.