UN General Assembly
2019

Collaboration, compromise and the defence of our joint rules and institutions are what we understand by sustainability in foreign policy. More than most other countries, Germany has benefited from the rules-based order over the past 70 years. Peace, prosperity, free trade and a world open to the outside, as well as a liberal society within, are inextricably linked to multilateralism. Never going it alone again — that is a lesson from our history. Precisely because it was Germany that 80 years ago unleashed fire and destruction in Europe and the world, we must assume a special responsibility today for an order that secures peace. That is why we set up the Alliance for Multilateralism last year. We do not agree with the idea that if everyone thinks only of themselves, everyone has been thought of, because in the end that means only “everyone against everybody else”. The truth is that not one of the major issues of the future confronting us today can be resolved by one country acting alone. Only if we work together will we find answers to globalization, the digital revolution, migration and human-induced climate change.