I have spent much of my life participating in a dialogue among business, government, and civil society. I speak to you as a true believer in the ideal that when these three work together in public-private partnerships, our world works better. But mistrust and misunderstanding prohibit us from working together more often, and when that happens we all lose: business loses opportunity, government loses credibility, but society loses most of all.

Let me therefore begin by expressing, in the strongest possible terms, my belief that economic growth and our ambitions for the eradication of poverty depend upon the energy and drive of business and commerce. In fact, I cannot envision an effective development strategy that is free of or uninformed by the private sector. When we examine instances where development has succeeded, in every case business was the engine of development.

That is true because business kick-starts a virtuous economic cycle: new enterprises are formed, new jobs are created, new skills are gained, and incomes begin to rise. Soon growth and productivity follow, spurring more innovation and efficiency and generating the products and services that people want and need. And in parallel, people gain opportunity, empowerment, and dignity.

Of course...