It was a remarkable time, and the response was of historic importance. The intervening half century has seen enormous changes, economically and politically. I want to briefly discuss that economic history, because those changes, along with the new post-Cold War political era, are the framework for discussion today. Europe has been rebuilt and regained its prosperity. The former Warsaw Pact nations are undergoing an historic economic and political transformation.
Japan is now the world's second-largest economy.
Over the past decade, Asia and Latin America have become, respectively, the fastest and second-fastest growing regions of the world. Trade barriers have begun to fall with the recognition that growth and protectionism are incompatible. Economic health is now the global binding agent. Ensuring that that bond holds is critical to all our interests and to the next chapters in global history. However, we face new challenges.