The Internet can deliver the entirety of human knowledge to a young girl in a remote village on a single hand-held device. Meanwhile, cracking the genetic code promises to cure diseases that have plagued us for centuries. It means children have enough to eat mothers don’t die in childbirth. Over the last 25 years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been cut from nearly 40 percent of humanity to under 10 percent. Here’s the most important fact: The integration of our global economy has made life better for billions of men, women and children. I make this argument not based on theory or ideology, but on facts - facts that all too often, we forget in the immediacy of current events. I believe that as imperfect as they are, the principles of open markets and accountable governance, of democracy and human rights and international law that we have forged remain the firmest foundation for human progress in this century. I want to suggest to you today that we must go forward, and not backward. Or we can retreat into a world sharply divided, and ultimately in conflict, along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion. We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration. Despite enormous progress, as people lose trust in institutions, governing becomes more difficult and tensions between nations become more quick to surface.Īnd so I believe that at this moment we all face a choice. A quarter century after the end of the Cold War, the world is by many measures less violent and more prosperous than ever before, and yet our societies are filled with uncertainty, and unease, and strife. This is the paradox that defines our world today. Powerful nations contest the constraints placed on them by international law. Terrorist networks use social media to prey upon the minds of our youth, endangering open societies and spurring anger against innocent immigrants and Muslims. We see too many governments muzzling journalists, and quashing dissent, and censoring the flow of information. Across vast swaths of the Middle East, basic security, basic order has broken down. Financial disruptions continue to weigh upon our workers and entire communities. Around the world, refugees flow across borders in flight from brutal conflict. ![]() And yet, around the globe we are seeing the same forces of global integration that have made us interdependent also expose deep fault lines in the existing international order. And it could not have happened had we not worked together. It has made a real difference in the lives of our people. And we have made international institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund more representative, while establishing a framework to protect our planet from the ravages of climate change. Our assistance is helping people feed themselves, care for the sick, power communities across Africa, and promote models of development rather than dependence. We opened relations with Cuba, helped Colombia end Latin America’s longest warm, and we welcome a democratically elected leader of Myanmar to this Assembly. ![]() ![]() We’ve taken away terrorist safe havens, strengthened the nonproliferation regime, resolved the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy. Secretary General fellow delegates ladies and gentlemen: As I address this hall as President for the final time, let me recount the progress that we’ve made these last eight years.įrom the depths of the greatest financial crisis of our time, we coordinated our response to avoid further catastrophe and return the global economy to growth. Here are his full remarks from the United Nations headquarters:
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