Secretary Kerry laid out the case for U.S. efforts to tackle extreme poverty. He iterated that it's in our moral, economic, and national security interests.

Quotes

This is a time where we have to show leadership – all of us – in shaping the development agenda in doing our part to end extreme poverty. It’s not a mission-impossible; it’s not an impossible dream. It’s a reality.

Extreme poverty has plagued us for a long period of time. It is not only a challenge to our values and our sense of humanity.… It is a challenge to our security.

When extremists measure their success by what they destroy, we are compelled to measure ours by what we’re building. When extremists succeed from stoking old hatreds, we succeed by imagining new solutions and delivering opportunity.

Our responsibility as citizens of the United States means we’re also citizens of the world. We’ve always looked at it that way. And that’s how we keep the United States on the frontier of global development, and that’s how we will make a difference.

Our future prosperity and security are determined by factors beyond military might: the ingenuity of our innovators, the discoveries of our scientists, and the compassion of our spirit.

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Biography

John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State

Secretary Kerry joined the State Department after 28 years in the United States Senate, the last four as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Kerry chaired the Asia and Middle East subcommittees where he authored and passed major legislation on international drug trafficking, international money laundering, humanitarian aid, and climate change. He helped negotiate the UN’s genocide tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Cambodia. He also held senior positions on the Finance, Commerce, and Small Business committees and served as a member of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, where he worked across party lines to try and reduce the country’s debt and strengthen our economy. Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States in 2004.