Thank you very much for the opportunity to look together in more detail at some foreign policy issues during today’s questions put to the Federal Government. You know that my key priority is focusing foreign policy more on the security, freedom and prosperity of Germany and Europe. I am delighted that the Development Cooperation Minister is also here with me today, as together we intend to engage in fully coordinated foreign and development cooperation policy. After all, that is what Europe is waiting for, as indeed is the world. The challenges are considerable.

Today, we are receiving visits from two of my colleagues. First, Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski. Interestingly enough, our Polish friends had the idea of holding the German-Polish Forum in Berlin instead of in Warsaw. This is a very special symbol of our friendship with Poland and we should pay due tribute to this gesture. We cannot take it for granted that, after the horrors of the Second World War, after this past, Poland time and again reaches out to us with such openness, friendship and the will to cooperate. To my mind, this is something we should accept with open arms.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is also coming to Germany and will be in Berlin today. Some of you will have the chance to talk to him in various forums throughout the course of the day. I wholly expect that to come up in the questions in just a moment. I will meet him tomorrow. You know that I made a point of visiting Israel on my first trip abroad because I believe that, given our historical responsibility, it is part of Germany’s raison d’état to stand up for the security and existence of the State of Israel. This is something we have to live and breathe every day, over and over.

Among friends, this does not exclude voicing criticism and engaging in discussion. I’m sure we’ll talk about that in just a moment. However, the focus always has to be that we have not forgotten what German hands did to Jews in the last century. Never again is now – that needs to remain our maxim. We have to stand ready time and again to act upon this responsibility here in Germany. This brings with it a special responsibility for the Jewish state that is a homeland for its people. I thus look forward to these visits and to talking to my colleagues, just as I look forward to talking to all of you.