The Nordic countries are leading the way on women's equality recognizing women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale.

Educational equality doesn't guarantee equality on the labor market. Even the most developed countries are not gender-equal. There are still glass ceilings and 'leaky pipelines' that prevent women from getting ahead in the workplace.

The 2010 global gender gap report by the World Economic Forum shows that countries with better gender equality have faster-growing more competitive economies.

I should like to suggest to you that the cause of all the economic troubles is that we have an economic system which tries to maintain an equality of value between two things which it would be better to recognise from the beginning as of unequal value.

More countries have understood that women's equality is a prerequisite for development.

More than ever before there is a global understanding that long-term social economic and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families communities and countries.

Without international participation jobs and emissions will simply shift overseas to countries that require few if any environmental protections harming the global environment as well as the U.S. economy.

If China is helping its domestic industries charge an artificially low price for solar panels and other environmental goods then China is violating international trade rules that it agreed to when it became a member of the World Trade Organization.

One of the biggest development issues in the world is the education of girls. In the United States and Europe it has been accepted but not in Africa and the developing countries.

When they favor the access of other people to education and health care the countries of the North not only demonstrate generosity or solidarity but also implement the principles of respecting and promoting human rights.