Germany's Baerbock wants to deepen ties with the UK

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday she wants to intensify cooperation between Germany and the United Kingdom after Brexit, which she described as "a watershed for us all".

"With a formalised strategic dialogue between our two countries we want to further intensify the close UK-German exchange which has accompanied me in my role as Foreign Minister since almost the very first day," she said in a statement ahead of a visit to Ireland and the United Kingdom.

"We also want to work together to place very practical achievements of the EU, such as the youth exchange programmes between our two countries and worker mobility, on a new footing in our relations with the United Kingdom."

Baerbock called for European Union member states and the United Kingdom "to protect and to implement" the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Britain is currently locked in talks with the EU over the protocol, a part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on some goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom due to the province's open land border with EU member Ireland.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Frances Kerry)