To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.

The problem the world faces today is that only one-third of the world's population lives in decent circumstances, while half the population of the world lives on one or two dollars a day. And even as we have this poverty and backwardness, we are facing a global environmental crisis. We need developmental models that will take into account the specific and unique position of each country and at the same time will address the environmental crisis.

Man is beginning to explore the galaxy. But how much remains undone on earth?

We need a new environmental consciousness on a global basis. To do this, we need to educate people.

We are all passengers aboard one ship, the Earth, and we must not allow it to be wrecked. There will be no second Noah's Ark.

I support freedom and I support a free market economy, but it should be a socially oriented market economy. I support globalization, but it should be globalization with a human face.

History punishes those that come late to it.