But it is hard not to be optimistic about our increasing medical knowledge.

MILAN It is hard to be optimistic about America at present.

A recent survey of international investors conducted by Morgan Stanley suggests that they are not bullish.

We look forward to the strengthening and expansion of the role of technical cooperation and its contribution to the economic progress of developing countries.

We remain hopeful that a solution to the conflict is imminent and continue to urge both parties to remain pragmatic and constructive in their quest for a solution.

And, as scientists become gloomier and underline the urgency of tackling climate change, economists are becoming increasingly optimistic about the opportunities implied by a low carbon future.

On the contrary, public opinion polls show that citizens remain highly patriotic and optimistic about their personal lives.

And when we change our behavior in our daily lives, we sometimes leave out the citizenship part and the democracy part. In order to be optimistic about this, we have to become incredibly active as citizens in our democracy.

While significant steps have indeed been taken this year and while we remain optimistic about the chances for lasting peace, we recognize the major challenges that remain.

And the outcome about which we wish to be optimistic is not going to be created by the belief alone, except to the extent that the belief brings about new behavior. But the word behavior is also, I think, sometimes misunderstood in this context.

And I'm going to talk about some of those consequences and just present a whole bunch of really interesting projects that I think give us tremendous reasons to be really optimistic that the big design and development project of the next 50 years is going to be retrofitting suburbia.