German foreign minister: General Assembly 'a vital forum'

DW (English)

As world leaders convene for the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, a recent NATO airspace infringement by Russian fighter jets over Estonia was followed by Denmark reporting an apparent drone attack on Copenhagen Airport. DW's Michaela Küfner spoke with Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul about the challenges facing the international community.

Transcript

00:00Minister Wadervo, we were both in the room at the UN Security Council meeting

00:04when the infringement of Air Spice of Estonia was discussed, that's only a

00:08couple of hours later. Denmark is now speaking of an attack. This doesn't look

00:13like it's going to stop anytime soon. Do you actually have a plan? Yes, of course

00:18we have a plan. NATO is standing together very firmly. That was

00:24seeable yesterday in the Security Council. The United States made very clear, and

00:31this is also our European position, that we defend every inch of NATO territory,

00:35and that will be the case from now on for the future. And of course, flexible

00:41response was always the strategy of NATO, and everybody who is trying to

00:47violate us, our interests, our territory, will feel that. How effective can the

00:52United Nations be? World leaders still come here. Donald Trump is speaking here.

00:56At the same time, there's also a meeting of China with India and North Korea. So

01:02how effective can the UN still be in actually doing what it's supposed to do,

01:06which is create peace in the world? The miracle is that a lot of countries and

01:12states are violating the rules of the UN Charter, but they are seeking the

01:17contact right here. Everybody is coming to New York and using these floor to come

01:24into consultations, to have the General Assembly to address them. So for me, it's

01:32absolutely clear there's no alternative to the United Nations, and we have a lot of

01:36formats here which we use as Germany and also as Europeans to get in touch with

01:41other countries, with other regions. We have been discussing with the small islands. We

01:47have today formats together with the Indo-Pacific region. So it's really a viable

01:55forum which we are using, others are using. So the future is, although we have a lot of

02:04crisis and wars on the world, the future for UN is bright. Just briefly, is your sense that the

02:10recognition of a Palestinian state by only a couple of countries could create more

02:15division?

02:16Yes, you know that Germany is reluctant to do this step. It's more a question of

02:24time, of course, because we are engaged in building a Palestinian state, but that

02:29needs some time and that needs especially negotiations between Israel and the

02:34Palestinians. So, but in the goal, we are all united to have a two-state solution. I don't

02:44see any European country who has a different goal. So, more or less, we are united. Only

02:50the question when to recognize the state is dividing us and that is not really a big

02:56problem.

02:57You are an wonderful German foreign minister. Thank you very much for your time.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended