Ronald Reagan statue unveiled in Berlin

Berlin : A bronze statue of late US President Ronald Reagan was unveiled in Germany's capital city on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The statue located in the US Embassy, overlooks the landmark Brandenburg Gate and the site where Reagan gave his famous 1987 speech urging the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to support peace and "tear down this Wall", reports Deutsche Welle, the German state-owned public international broadcaster.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled the 7-foot statue on Friday and hailed it as a "monumental moment".

Pompeo praised Reagan, saying he "courageously denounced the greatest threat to that freedom, the Soviet empire, the evil empire".

In a press conference earlier in the day with Pompeo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked the US for its support in reunification.

"That the USA, along with (late President) George Bush, helped and supported us on the path to German reunification is something that we will never forget," she said at the press conference with Pompeo.

The senior Bush served after Reagan, but was in office for the fall of the Wall and has been remembered for his key support in achieving German unification.

The Berlin Wall came up on August 13, 1961. The barbed wire and concrete structure had divided East from West Berlin.

Its demolition on November 9, 1989 led to the reunion of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.