Chancellor Angela Merkel can look back on 12 months of success on the international stage with her brand of understated diplomacy.

The year began with a trip to Washington to cement the renewed alliance with the United States -- and ended with another trip across the Atlantic to visit President George W. Bush at his Crawford home in Texas.

In between, the chancellor travelled to destinations as diverse as Ilulissat and Mazar-e Sharif, the first to see the effects of global warming in Greenland and the second to visit German troops stationed in Afghanistan.

There were more conventional stops. The chancellor took in Beirut, Jerusalem and Dubai, reflecting Germany's aim of playing a larger role in the Middle East peace process.

Cape Town, Monrovia and Addis Ababa were stations reflecting Merkel's personal commitment to alleviating hardship in Africa.

Tense encounters took place with the Poles in Warsaw and with the Russians in Sochi and Samara.

Routine trips

The regular trips to Western European capitals during Germany's presidency of the European Union in the first half of the year were routine by comparison.

The cartoon in Berlin's Tagesspiegel said it all: Bush, reclining in an armchair on his Crawford ranch asks Merkel, "Well then, how was your trip to Germany?"

The EU presidency and Germany's year-long presidency of the Group of Eight (G-8) provided plenty of opportunity for Merkel to display her diplomatic skills.

A recalcitrant Polish President Lech Kaczynski succumbed to her charms at the June EU summit in Brussels and did not torpedo her plans to revive the moribund European constitution.

And Bush struck a conciliatory note on climate protection at the G-8 summit she hosted in Heiligendamm, also in June.

Angry response

Merkel's "private" invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit the Berlin chancellery in September drew plaudits from human rights activists and the wider German public but an angry response from Beijing, which cancelled several high-level meetings.

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