Warsaw  -  Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday that he wanted to cooperate closely with Germany, which he views as a "key country" in Europe.

Poland hoped to have "dialogue and the closest possible cooperation" with Germany, which should help to overcome historical burdens, Sikorski said during a speech on foreign policy in parliament in Warsaw.

Sikorski was presenting his foreign policy objectives for the first time since the new liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk took up office after defeating the eurosceptic and Germanophobic Law and Justice Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski in the autumn.

Apart from reconciliation, Poland also expected from Germany "partnership dialogue with a strategic focus" along the lines of the Franco-German relationship, Sikorski said.

Sikorski pointed to policies towards Poland's and Germany's eastern neighbours outside the European Union as a possible area of German-Polish cooperation.

Some people had not accepted that Germany was now Poland's ally, Sikorski said in reference to the anti-German attitudes of Kaczynski and his party.

German enjoyed the trust of its European and US allies, Sikroski said.

"We can not and should not forget (the past). The great message of the Polish bishops in 1965 is still valid today," he said.

The bishops' message at the time was: "We forgive and ask for forgiveness." (dpa)