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Germany is determined to provide substantial help. So are the Netherlands and other states. But a day will come when we have to count on our own resources.

At German unification, we were lucky to get so much help from West Germany. Now, we have the good fortune of being able to help each other in Europe.

Help is even being offered from across the ocean, as over two dozen countries have stepped forward to offer financial and material support to the American people.

You try and help something, and later on it bites you, so it's a hard decision, but as a country, as a nation, people need our help.

The United States is our most important ally. They helped us many times. Without the United States, the unification or German democratisation after the Nazi period would have been much more complicated, or almost impossible.

Our assistance in Somalia has been remarkably effective and successful, and we have helped with very small resources - a large group of people and we can now do even more.

Germany remains among the few countries in Europe to acknowledge, officially and nationally, its responsibility for the crimes it led against our people.

It is true that no member state can be required to make payments to others. But if countries want to offer voluntary assistance, as in the Greek case, this isn't only allowed, but it's also in Germany's interest. We all benefit by ensuring the stability of the euro zone.

Of course, aid is only one small part of international development. Some of the greatest benefits to the world's poorest can be achieved through policy changes by developed countries.

Germany is very free-trade oriented.