BERLIN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The German cabinet agreed on Friday on a plan to try to find a way to protect German industries from unwanted takeovers by investment funds owned by foreign governments.

    "It is a completely normal policy," said Chancellor Angela Merkel at a press conference.

    The plan is to create control mechanisms to block unwanted foreign takeovers, preempting complaints that the government is pursuing a policy of protectionism.

    Merkel said that other countries including the U.S. and France employ such policies and that any such policy would be in line with European Union (EU) and World Trade Organization guidelines.

    She added that Germany will continue to work with the EU to try to find a Europe-wide approach to the issue.