4/12/2018/IMF
Speech by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the Eighth Henry A. Kissinger Lecture – Library of Congress – Washington , DC:
Introduction
Thank you, Mr. Haskell, for the warm welcome and thank you, Dr. Hayden, for that generous introduction. Ms. Brennan: I am very much looking forward to our conversation.
It is an honor to be with all of you tonight. Although he cannot be here this evening, I know we are all profoundly grateful to Dr. Kissinger for launching this important lecture series nearly 20 years ago.
Also very much in our thoughts this evening is, of course, former President George H.W. Bush and his family. We all mourn his passing, but celebrate the arc of his life: the pilot who bravely fought in World War II; the President who helped heal divisions after the Cold War; and the statesman who believed in the power of international cooperation. I hope to honor his spirit tonight.
Tonight, December 4th is actually an important date for another reason. I will not tell you why just yet. You will have to wait until the end of my remarks.
When I walked into the Great Hall this evening I immediately thought about two things. The first are my sons, one of whom is an architect. He would love this magnificent space. The second is my native country, France, as well the country I was just in two days ago for the
G20 Summit, Argentina. Why?
When this structure was completed in 1897, the chief engineer remarked that the Palais Garnier — the Paris Opera House — was the “the prime suggestion” for the new Library of Congress. That makes sense, since the Paris Opera House was completed twenty years earlier, in 1875. Now I think the French may have borrowed a bit themselves. Perhaps from the original Teatro Colón, the Opera House in Buenos Aires, which was finished in 1857.
What does this tell us? Well, first of all, that valuable intellectual property was of great interest across borders, even back then, at least among architects who happily borrowed from each other, learned from one another, and became inspired. Second, it reminds us that, they understood that building something lasting means linking the solid foundations of the past with a spark of imagination.
That kind of creativity and long-term vision, rooted in history and informed by our successes and failures from the past, is my theme this evening. First, where have we been? How has creativity in international economic cooperation helped bring prosperity and peace to the world. And second, where can we travel together? How can creativity and informed visionary thinking help adapt the international system to our current challenges?