Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Please, everybody have a seat. So the way this works — do we have microphones in the audience? Yes? So just raise your hand if you want a question, and I will call on you. I think we have some translators. If you want to speak French and German, my French and German are terrible. But we have people who speak very good French and very good German who will translate your question, and translate my answer. And I will try to get as many questions as I can get in, in the remaining 20 minutes or so that we have.
And I will start with this young lady right here. Yes, you, right there. (Laughter.) Please introduce yourself. Hold on, I can’t hear you yet. Can we increase the sound on the mic? Let’s try again. Oh, I called — now, I just want to say I did not call on the American on purpose. (Laughter.)
Q (Inaudible.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, after only two months, that’s kind of a big question. (Laughter.) But here’s what I would like to see. And, look, you aim high knowing that you’ll make mistakes and sometimes you’ll fall short.
Number one, my first task is to restore the economy of the United States, but, in concert with other nations, to restore global economic growth. That’s my number one task, because we are going through the worst crisis since the 1930s.
That means that not only do we have to fix the banking system, put common-sense regulations in place to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again, making sure that we are keeping trade relationships between countries open — but it also means helping developing countries and poor countries who, through no fault of their own, have been devastated by this crisis, and if we allow them to collapse will ultimately be a drag on our ability to prosper.
Emerging markets have actually been the drivers of economic growth over the last several years. If we can get millions of Chinese to prosper, that is ultimately good for us. If we can get all the Indians in poverty to suddenly be able to buy a refrigerator or send their children to college, that will raise everybody’s living standards, because those will be enormous new markets for all of us.
So what I want to be able to do is not only fix the immediate crisis, but, working in partnership with other countries, create a path for sustainable, responsible growth. And I think we can do that. There are a lot of people who benefit from globalization, but there are also people who have been harmed by globalization. Globalization in and of itself can be good, but can also be destructive.