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German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday presented a strong defense against the post-war multilateral order, praising the compromise as a virtue of international relations in a veiled criticism of US President Donald Trump .
In a speech to political and business leaders in Davos, Merkel urged Western powers to go beyond their narrow national interests and reform their global institutions to achieve "win-win" results. ".
Europe's largest economy, Germany, is highly dependent on international trade and, as such, has every interest in preserving the integrity of the global multilateral systems that are now confronted with the "America First" approach of Trump.
"(The Western world) must fight the fragmentation of international architecture and be ready to reform existing institutions," Merkel said in her speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"I think we should understand our national interest in a way that takes into account the interests of others and creates win-win situations that are the precondition for multilateralism," she added.
Global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must be reformed to restore confidence in the global financial system, Merkel said.
"For a long time, emerging countries such as China and India have strongly influenced the global economy. When an existing system takes too long to react, the consequences are that others (countries) get noticed through new institutions, "she added.
For 13 years chancellor, Merkel has been trying to defend a Western alliance shaken by the Trump presidency and to bind a European Union in which Germany forged its post-war identity, but which is put to the test by the Brexit and nationalism.
She was dubbed the "last defender of the liberal West" when Trump took over from Obama – a nickname she fired.
Merkel said Europe was on a path with no guarantee of success against the economic forces of the United States and China, adding: "We are looking for allies who share our values".
"Today we see how the economic strength is effective," she said, referring to the sanctions imposed on Iran and the effectiveness of US foreign policy. "This is due to the strength of the dollar as a currency."
"The question then becomes: how can we become so dominant in the euro zone? How can we arrange this to have an economic weight on the scale … you must be very economical to badert yourself. "
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