It is impossible to overstate the importance of the German-Polish Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness of 1991.

Like Willy Brandt going down on his knees in Warsaw, the treaty is a historic milestone in our shared, extremely chequered and also tragic history. It paved the way to reconciliation, thereby opening a new chapter of friendship in German-Polish relations.

While 25 years have passed since then, this treaty still constitutes the firm foundations on which Germans and Poles, people of both countries, live and work with each other in friendship, day by day.

This is why our joint anniversary today is a genuine cause for celebration.

Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska once spoke in a poem of the troubles after the war and of the need to build bridges – the German-Polish Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness of 1991 is precisely this kind of bridge, one that we built with a great deal of effort and determination - and which continues to unite us today.