Germany has accepted a request by the United Nations to help destroy Syria's chemical weapons.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the country would not shirk its responsibility.
It signifies a major U-turn by Germany, which has until now refused to accept chemical weapons which will arrive from Syria in diluted form, the BBC reports.
Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in a deal brokered by the United States and Russia last year.
The first consignment of toxic chemicals left Syria on a Danish ship earlier this week bound for Italy, where it will be loaded onto a US Navy ship and shipped to international waters for destruction in a specially created titanium tank.
