When we pull in different directions, we are the global brake. We bear a special responsibility to lead multinational efforts towards global financial stability and sustained world growth based on open markets. The well-being of our citizens is increasingly influenced by legal and illegal flows of money and weapons, technology, toxins and terror, drugs and disease. We characterize these phenomena as global, but their impact is also very seriously local. They are impersonal forces with very personal consequences.
Criminals trafficking in illicit weapons, drugs and human lives recognize no national borders.
They turn our citizens into targets of opportunity and our public places into stalking grounds. Together, we are making a difference. The new Europe brings real resources to the foreign policy table, making some of our most important strategic initiatives possible. Together, we are preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and fighting criminals, terrorists and drug traffickers wherever they may be. Together, we are fighting AIDS in Africa, easing poverty in South Asia, and ensuring food security worldwide.