I want to eradicate poverty. I think that theres a tremendous passion for that inside the World Bank.

Ending poverty and ensuring sustainability are the defining challenges of our time. Energy is central to both of them.

Water and sanitation has not had the same kind of champion that global health, and even education, have had.

When you're working on development issues, optimism is not always based on rational analysis, often it is a moral choice.

What happens when corn and wheat prices rise is that we see real increases in malnutrition and under-nutrition. And when children are malnourished, their brain development actually slows down and is affected. So this is not just a short-term impact.

Today there are a lot places where people say they're just hopeless. If I can come from a hopeless country, get an education, become a hyphenated American and become president of the World Bank, it's my moral duty to make sure that every single person on the planet has that opportunity.

We need to have a plan equal to the challenge.