Today I want to talk particularly about five lessons I have learnt in the last 10 years, during which I have had the difficult but exhilarating role … - Kofi Annan

Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is.

My friends, our challenge today is not to save Western civilization — or Eastern, for that matter. All civilization is at stake, and we can save it only if all peoples join together in the task. You Americans did so much, in the last century, to build an effective multilateral system, with the United Nations at its heart. Do you need it less today, and does it need you less, than 60 years ago? Surely not. More than ever today, Americans, like the rest of humanity, need a functioning global system through which the world’s peoples can face global challenges together. And in order to function more effectively, the system still cries out for far-sighted American leadership, in the Truman tradition. I hope and pray that the American leaders of today, and tomorrow, will provide it.

You have said that your first priority is the eradication of extreme poverty.