Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern Tuesday following the previous night's murder of a police officer in Northern Ireland.

Of the shooting, which claimed the third victim within 48 hours in a new wave of terrorist violence in Northern Ireland, Steinmeier told journalists it gave him cause for "great concern."

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier demanded greater advances to the reforms in Bosnia-Herzegovina during talks Tuesday with his Slovakian counterpart Miroslav Lajcak.

The discussion focused on developments in the western Balkans, a region including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

The willingness in recent months to drive forward the reform process in the region had been "downright insufficient," Steinmeier said.

Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said late Monday that South Africa's important position in Africa, which goes far beyond mediating conflicts in Sudan and the Congo, "underlines the role that South Africa has found in recent years."

During a meeting late Monday in Berlin with South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Steinmeier spoke of the "multifaceted cooperation" between Germany and South Africa.

Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Wednesday for Sudan to respect the arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Al-Bashir was charged earlier Wednesday with seven counts - five of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes - over his alleged role in masterminding a counter-insurgency against ethnic groups that oppose his government over some five years to 2008 in Darfur.

Berlin - The President of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq, Massoud Barzani, met Wednesday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a visit to Berlin.

The discussion focused on bilateral relations between the two regions.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry, Jens Ploetner, said they spoke in particular about strengthening economic ties between Germany and the Kurdish region, as well as the significant "potential for cultural cooperation."

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Monday a policy of "eastern partnership" underpinning the European Union's discussions over financial aid for Eastern Europe.

This policy, Steinmeier said at a meeting with his Romanian counterpart Cristian Diaconescu, was aimed at providing "economic and political support" to the countries of Eastern Europe.