WITTLICH, Germany, Jumada I 22, 1437, March 02, 2016, SPA -- Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Wednesday for Germany to play a bigger role in world affairs, resisting domestic pressure for the country to turn in on itself in the face of the migrant crisis, according to Reuters. Campaigning for her Christian Democrats (CDU) ahead of three state elections on March 13 that will serve as a litmus test of her migrant policies, Merkel said it would no longer suffice for Germany to export goods to the rest of the world. "Rather, we will have to take on more responsibility in an open world for what happens outside our European borders," she told a rally in Wittlich in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, one of the three states gearing up for elections. "That means more development aid, that means more common standards on climate protection, that means fair trade and a lot more than one perhaps feels in a closed society," she added. Merkel is scrambling to secure a Europe-wide plan to address the crisis, which saw over 1 million migrants enter Germany last year. But many voters are losing faith in her ability to make the plan work and want Germany to close its borders instead. --SPA 23:31 LOCAL TIME 20:31 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w