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Madam President, esteemed colleagues,

I think we’re holding an important debate here, one that I believe merits a little more objectivity. We shouldn’t assume from the outset that we’re not being sincere here – firstly, with respect to our efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to this extraordinarily difficult and complex conflict, and, secondly, by not acknowledging the relief that our assistance indeed brings to the people in the region.

Diplomacy requires patience. Success is often the result of tireless negotiations and great perseverance. Keeping at it when others have already lost interest – that’s what makes the difference. That’s why my position remains the same: following the conferences in London and Paris, we held the third international Sudan conference at the Federal Foreign Office a few weeks ago, and it was a success.

This war has been going on for far too long and the crimes committed are terrible. I believe that anyone who has read the accounts, who has seen the images, cannot help but look away in revulsion and horror. But that does nothing to alleviate the situation. Still, I believe that we shouldn’t assume from the outset that our feelings are any less genuine.

Since the term “hypocrisy” has now been mentioned several times in the debate, I’d like to say that this doesn’t do justice to the mindset of the participants at this conference, who came from all around the world.

Fifty-five countries committed themselves, came here to Germany and, of course, did not find a quick-fix or the key that you just turn and then this conflict is resolved, but endeavoured to achieve results.

We mobilised 1.5 billion euro for humanitarian assistance. Ladies and gentlemen, since we have just discussed this point, I’d like to add that humanitarian assistance isn’t simply any sort of assistance for any kind of organisation, but is, as the term suggests, for the people. And by investing 232 million euro of this total from Germany’s tax revenue as the world’s third-largest industrial nation, we’re living up to our humanitarian responsibility. We can afford to do this, and we have to do this. We owe this to the people.

By the way, I’d like to draw your attention to the following point, since the issue of migration has also been raised:

In ensuring that people in the region don’t go hungry and aren’t forced to flee their homes, in providing for them there, we’re indeed serving German interests. And that’s what the AfD is calling on us to do each and every day. That’s why you should actually be in favour of us using these funds and be calling for us to increase them further.

So this is necessary, and it’s right.

There has been an agreement among the civilian political representatives from the Sudan, who, by the way, don’t wish to stage a revolution there every day, but would simply be happy – and we would also be grateful and happy to see this – if they could reach agreement on principles for peaceful coexistence, for balancing the interests of the various ethnic groups, communities and religions. We have managed to bring all of this together here in Berlin, and I’m very grateful to everyone for that. Above all, I’m very grateful to the representatives of the United Nations for supporting these efforts, ladies and gentlemen.

It goes without saying that we’re also pleased – and this isn’t yet the solution to all the conflicts – that all the parties involved, including neighbouring countries that have links to warring factions in the Sudan, have agreed to the Berlin Principles. This will now be our yardstick for judging the actions of all these stakeholders. That applies to those playing an active role in the country, in particular those bearing arms, and also to others who maintain political ties with them.

If you’ve been following the news over the last few days, you will have noticed that, for example, the Turkish Foreign Minister visited Berlin and that the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates was in Berlin yesterday. I can tell you here, without going into details, that I spoke to both of them about this matter. I told them that they, too, had agreed to this, and that we expect them to continue to implement this.

I will also discuss this issue with the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the fringes of the Gymnich meeting next week, and I will also talk to Egypt’s Foreign Minister. We’ll do this prudently, as befits the situation, in a face-to-face conversation. I won’t do this in front of all the world’s cameras and microphones.

So the Federal Government is talking to these parties and stakeholders about their international responsibility and, of course, viewing them in the context of the relationships we have with them. We’re bringing our foreign policy responsibility to bear here, and we expect these countries to live up to their international and humanitarian responsibility. You can count on that. That’s what we’re doing. That’s practical diplomacy, esteemed colleagues.

And we’re going above and beyond that, of course. The sanctions rightly imposed by the European Union are in place, and it goes without saying that they must be implemented. We have done so in the case of Iran, and it’s entirely right that you should highlight this once again at this point. We will, of course, push at the EU level to ensure that those involved in the gold trade – which, incidentally, is also a key issue in this region – can be sanctioned as well.

We won’t let up on this. As people so often say in politics, this is one of the really tough nuts to crack. I can assure you that the Federal Government will keep at this. This applies to Ms Alabali Radovan as much as it does to myself. This is certainly a commitment that we have made.

This Berlin conference was an important milestone, and now we should all work together to build on this. We owe this to the people suffering in the region.

Thank you very much.