well but it was very kind. he was named steve. steve said, are you watching tv? >i said, yes. e said do you know about the bunker and fortunately i did. >> they had run an exercise of what happens in a crisis and we'd all found out who was supposed to go to the bunker and we had visited it and things like that. but it was petty casual training on all of this. but i did know the bunker and knew where to go. steve subsequently told me in the clinton administrationed the been in some cases months and years before people were briefed n the existence of it.

because nobody ever thought the u.s. itself would be under attack. an art er was kind of era of the by gone cold war and of no use to the current white house. but steve called me and tried to alert me to it. after the vice president got taken off, both condi and i went to the bunker and spent much of the morning and afternoon there with the vice president. >> unfortunately we are out of time. chief of staff from 2006 to 2009 for george walker bush, thank you very much for joining us. > thank you for having me. >> for a d.v.d.

aller: of this program, call 1-877-662-7726. for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this q-and-a.org. us at >> next sunday watch part two of our conversation with josh boll on the. >> start off by giving us what you saw with the press, the media and that world. how did you view them? . usually with some hoss tilt it's the natural state of affairs between the white house and the press corp because that's just the nature of what the press needs to do.

they need to try to catch the white house out on whatever is going on. >> more with josh next sunday .ight at 8:00 on c-span's q&a ming up next david cameron addressing the conservative party. talking about the global economy. then another chance to see q&a with josh bolten. >> we need some fundamental overhall of how this government works. i mean we vote on tuesday because sunday is church day and monday is market day and you ride your horse and buggy into town to vote on tuesday. that is ludicrous. we have 430 steets in the house of representatives basically

because that's how many seats fit in the building despite the average size of the districts has quad druppled over the last 40 years. the government is due for a cra matic overhall. they will not get out of the mess they have gotten into unless they understand the changes society of our world and reimagine what government might look like in the digital age. >> reshaping power and politics monday at 8:00 a.m. on c-span. >> prime minister's questions will not be shown tonight because they are in recess. instead david cameron speaking at the annual fall conference. his is 50 minutes.

> thank you. this week we have shown this party is on the side of hardworking people, helping young people buy their own home, getting the long-term unemployed back to work. backing marriage, cutting the deficit, creating jobs, creating wealth. make no mistake, it is this party with the energy and ideas to take our country forward and i want to thank everyone here for the great week we've had. [applause] when we came to office, we faced a clear and daunting task, to turn our country around n. may

2010, the needle on the gauge was at crisis point. people were talking about our country in a way they hadn't done so for decades. but three and a half years later, we are beginning to turn the corner. the deficit is falling, our economy is growing. the numbers of our fellow country men and women in work are rising. we are not there yet, not by a long way. but my friends, we are on our way. and i want to thank the people who have done the most to get thus far. you the british people, never giving up, working those extra hours, coping with those necessary cuts. and you british business, you kept people on in the hard times. you invested before you knew for certain that things were getting better. together, we are clearing up the ess that labor left.

[applause] but i have a simple question to the people in this hall and beyond it. is that enough? is it enough just to clear up labor's mess and think job done? is it enough to think we fix what went wrong and that's enough? i say no, not for me. this isn't job done. it is job begun. i didn't come into politics just to fix what went wrong but to build something right. we in this party, we don't dream of deficits and decimal points and drive fiscal plans. our dreams are about helping people to get on in life. aspiration, opportunity. these are our words, these are dreams. today i want to talk about our one abiding mission. i believe it is the great

conservative mission that as our economy starts to recover, we build a land of opportunity in our country today. [applause] now i know it will be tufment people will ask have we got what . takes for the people that saw the pictures, they know one thing, i've got the stomach for the fight. in his speech van programsed that he would never be photographed with his shirt off in public. and ed, after hearing that speech, here is the deal. you keep your shirt on, i'll keep the lights on. [applause] now i know we've got what it

takes in this party. some people say can't be done. what is to stop us? they said we couldn't get terrorist out of our country. that is otherwise. [applause] >> some people said the n.h.s. wasn't safe in our hands. well we knew otherwise. who protected spending on the n.h.s.? not labor, us. >> who started the cancer drugs fund? not labor, us. and by the way, who presided over mid staffs, patients left for so long out of water they were drinking out of dirty vases. people's grandparents lying dirty for days.

it was labor. and don't you dear lecture anyone on the n.h.s. again. [applause] and of course, people say a lot of things about europe. you'll never be able to veto an eu treaty. you'll never duty eu budget and if you did you'd have no allies in europe. well we proved them wrong. i vetoed that treaty and i cut that budget. and in doing all this, we haven't lost respect, we have won allies to get powers back from europe. that is what we will do and at the end of it yes, we will give the british people their say in a referendum. that is our pledge. it will be your choice, in or

out. [applause] and of course, we know what one person said about us recently. you just heard the russian official who said britain is just a small island that no one pays attention to. really? let me just get this off my chest one more time. when the world wanted rights, who wrote magna carta? who built the first parliament? when they looked for compassion who led abolition of slavery. who gave women their vote? who offered blood, tears and sweat? and whose music do they dance to? whose universities do they flock to? tolerance from every nation, young and old, straight and gay? who is example do they aspire

to? i haven't gotten on to the fact this small island beat russia in . e olympics last year [applause] or of course that the biggest selling vodka brand in the world isn't russian, it's british. smirnoff. we may be a small island but we're a great country. [applause] obviously having said all of that don't expect me to go arm wrest wling vladimir next time i see him. but i do want to make this serious point about our place in the world. because following that vote on syria in the house of commons, some people said it was time for britain to rethink our role.

i'm sorry, but i don't agree. if we shrunk from the world we would be less safe and prosperous here in the united kingdom. the role we play and the organizations we belong to and the fact our defense budget remains the fourth largest in the world, all of this is not about national vanity. it's about our national interest. when british citizen our fathers, mothers, daughters, when they are in danger whether nairobi, geria or countering terrorism matters to us here. when five of the world's fastest growing economies are in africa, trading with africa matters to us right here. and at the heart of all this work, the finest foreign secretary i could possible have, william hague.

and as you heard in that great speech just now from ruth, around the world we really do matter as a united coingdom, england, wales, now the date for the referendum has been set. the decision is for scottland to make. all the arguments about the economy, about our currency. i believe they make a case for the united kingdom. but today i want a more simple message to go out to the people of stot land. from us here in this hall, from this party, from england and yes from wales and northern ireland too, and it is this, we want you to stay. we want us to stick together. think of all the things we've achieved together, all the things we can do together. he nations as one, our kingdom

united. [applause] for 12 years now, men and women from all parts of these i'll lappeds have been serving their country in afghanistan. next year the last of our combat troops will be coming home having trained up the afghans to look after their own country. more than a decade of war, sacrifice beyond measure from the finest and bravest armed forces in the world. i want us today to stand to raise the roof right here, right now to show just how proud of those men and women all of us are. [applause]

>> we in this room are a team. this year we said good buy to

one of our team. our et thatcher made country stand tall again, creating work, winning the cold war, saving the fork lands. an amazing record. i was sitting next to her at a dinner once and i was as ever with her a little bit nervous. as ever she was totally charming and she put me at ease. and after a while i said to her, margaret f you had your time in government again, is there anything you'd do differently. and quick as a flash she looked at me and said you know what, i think i did pretty well the first time around. [applause] we can all agree on that and we can all agree on this: she was the greatest peacetime prime minister our country has ever

had. [applause] margaret thatcher had an all mighty mess to clear up when she came to office and so did we. and we must never forget what we found. the biggest deficit in peacetime history. the deepest recession since the second world war. it wasn't yust the debt and deficit labor left. it was who got hurt. millions coming from overseas while millions here on poverty. unsustainable debt filled banks booming while manufacturing withered away. towns where a quarter of people lived on benefits. schools where eight out of ten hildren didn't get five decent gse's. they were relaxed about people

getting rich but they were intensely relaxed about people staying stuck on welfare year after year and children leafing school without proper qualifications so they couldn't hope to get a job at the end of it. that was what they left. the casin know economy meets the broken education system. a country for the few built by the so-called party of the many. and labor, we will never let you forget it. [applause] these past few years have been a real struggle. but what people want to know is this: it was struggle worth it? and here is the honest answer. the struggle will only be worth it if we as a country finish the job we've started.

and finishing the job means understanding this: our economy may be turning the corner and of course that's great but we still haven't finished paying for labor's debt crisis. if anyone thinks that is over, done and dealt with, they are living in a fantasy land. the country's debt crisis created by labor is not over. after three years of cuts, we still have one of the biggest budget deficits anywhere in the world. we are still spending more than we earn. we still need to earn more and yes, our government still needs to spend less. i see that labor have stopped talking about the debt craze crisis and now they talk about the cost of living crisis as if one wasn't directly related to the other. and if you want to know what happens if you don't deal with the debt crisis and how it affect it is cost of living just go and ask the greeks. so finishing the job means

sticking to our course until we've paid off owl of labor's deficit, not just some of it. and yes this time we fix the roof when the sun is shining as george said in that brilliant speech on monday. [applause] to abandon deficit reduction now would throw away all the progress that we've made. it would put us back to square one and unbelievably that is what labor now want to do. how did they get us into this mess? too much spending, too much borrowing, too much debt. they proposed last week more spending, more borrowing, more debt. they have learned literally nothing from the crisis they created. but finishing the job is about more than clearing up the mess we were left.

it means building something better in its place. in place of the casino economy, one where people work hard can really get on. in place of the welfare society, one where no individual written off. and in place of the broken education system, one that gives every child the chance to rise up and succeed. our economy, our society, welfare, schools, all reformed, all rebuilt with one aim, one mission in mind, to make this country for the first time ever a land of opportunity for all, for all. so it makes no difference whether you live in the north or the south, whether you are black or white, a man or woman, the school you went torks the background you v who your parents were. what matters is the effort you put in. and if you put in the effort, you'll have the chance to make it. that is what the land of opportunity means that. is what finishing the job means.

[applause] now of course i know that in politics, there are others talking about these things. but wishing for something, caring about something, that is not enough. you can't cun injury up a die ma'amic economy with a stroke of the minister's pen. it takes hard work, common sense and above all the right values. when the left say you can't expect too much from the poorest kids, don't ask too much from people on welfare, business is the problem not the solution. we must say that is just plain wrong. if you expect nothing of people, that does nothing for them. yes, you must help people but you help them by putting up ladders they can climb through

their own efforts. you don't help children by dumbing down education, you help them by pushing them hard. bring out the best in every child. you don't help people by leaving them stuck on welfare but by helping them stand on their own two feet. why? because the best way out of poverty is work and the dignity that brings. we know wealth creation, tax enterprise are the solution because it's not government that creates jobs, it's businesses. it's businesses that get wages in people's pockets, food on their tables and success for our country. there is no short cut. [applause] there is no short cut to a land of opportunity new york city quick fix, no easy way to do it.

you build it business by business, school by school, person by person patiently practically, pain stake demri and there is that belief that if you trust people, if you give them the tools, they will succeed. this party at its heart is about big people, responsible businesses, a bigger society, not a bigger state. it's how we've been clearing up the mess and it's how we're going to build something better in its place. so let us stick wit and finish the job that we've started. -- with it and finish the job hat we've started. now a land of opportunity must start in our economy. the chance to get a decent job, to start a business or own a home and at the end of it all more money in your pocket. to get decent jobs for people,

have you to recognize some fundamental economic facts. we are in a global race today. no one ohs us a living. last week our ambition to compete in this race was dismissed as a race to the bottom. it means competing with china on sweat shops and yained on low wages. no, those countries are becoming our customers. and we have to compete with california on invasion, asia on technology. and you need to recognize something else about this race. the plain fact is this: all those global companies that employ lots of people can set up anywhere in the world. they can go to silicon valley or come here and these companies base their decisions on some simple things like the tax rates you pay in each country. if those taxes are higher here

than elsewhere they don't come here. and if they don't come here we don't get those jobs. do you get that labor? british people don't get those jobs. last week labor proposed to put up corporation tax on our biggest and most successful employers. that is just about the most damaging nonsensical policy you could possibly come up with and we will fight it every step of the way. [applause] and my job i get to visit some amazing factories. one of my favorites is not only because they let me get in a car on my own and let me drive around quite dangerously. better than when i drove the millionth mini off the production line.

the only trouble is when i got to the end i turned the wrong way. on this occasion i turned right, ather than left. the reason i find these places so fulfilling is because i meet people there who are so incredibly proud of their work and craftmanship. the fact what they are making sells around the world, the best of british design and engineering. so when ed talks about the face of big business, i think about the faces of these hardworking people. labor is effectively saying to their employers, we want to put up your taxes. stick your jobs, take them somewhere else. i know bashing business might play to a labor audience but it is crazy for our country. [applause] so if labor's plan for jobs is

to attack business, ours is to back business, regulation down, taxes cut for businesses large and small, a new industrial policy that looks to the future, the green jobs, aerospace jobs. we've made a good start. 1.4 new private sector jobs created since we came to office. and yes, that is 1.4 million reasons to finish the job we started. in a land of opportunity it must become easier to start your own business. you heard from germane, an incredibly inspiring story this morning. i say to all the people who strike out on their own who check whether the numbers stack up, i say i have so much respect to all of you. you are national heroes. i will never forget watching samantha when she set up her first small business, winning her first customer and sorting

out the cash flow. you now.dibly proud of [applause] people setting up new businesses need finances. that's why we bought in the start up loans. they need taxes cut and we're doing that. and it is working. let me tell you how many businesses started up in britain since the election. over 300,000 and that is 300,000 more reasons to finish the work hat we've started. [applause] in a land of opportunity, we must make sure that more people are able to own a home of their own. that old saying your home is your castle.

for most young people today their home is their landlords. general yation y is starting to come generation why do we bother. many of them stuck renting when they are desperate to buy. who a couple on sunday both had decent jobs. but because they didn't have rich parents they couldn't get a big enough deposit to buy a house. let me tell you where i met them. in their new home. it was half built but they showed me where the kitchen was going to be. outside was rubble all over the ground but they had already bought the lawn mower. they were so excited to spend a first christmas in a home of their own. that is what we're about. and this the party of aspiration is going to finish the job on ome ownership that we started.

[applause] in a land of opportunity, there is another thing people need and it's the most important of all. more money in their pockets. these have been difficult years. people have found it hard to make ends meet. that is why we froze the cancel tax, freezing fuel duty. but we need to do more. i know that. we heard labor's ideas to help with the cost of living. taxes on banks, they want to spend ten times over. promising free child care and saying you have to pay for it yourself. and then an energy promise they admitted hours later they might not be able to keep. it is quick fixes for the t.v. cameras. red's peter and his blue economy.

i tell you, what britain can do better than that. [applause] to raise living standards, to really raise living standards you need to do some major things. you need to cut the deficit to keep mortgage rates low, grow your economy and get people jocx. and yes, you need to cut people's taxes. i want people to keep more of their money to spend as they choose. we have cut the taxes of 25 million hardworking people and yes that is 25 million more reasons to finish the job we've started. and while we're on taxes, let me get one thing straight. i don't know whether you caught the lib conference a couple of weeks ago. no. they were trying to take all the credit for these tax cuts as though they've been twisting our

arm to do it. memo to you lecturing us on low xes is like us lecturing you on constitutional tinkering. we will continue cutting the taxes on hardworking people in our country. and let me say this, when i say a lapped of opportunity for all, i mean everyone north and south. this country, our country has been too london sen trick for far too long. that is why we need a new north south railway line. the west coast main line is almost full. we have to build a new railway and the choice is between another old style one or a high speed one. just imagine if someone said no,

we can't build the m 1, imagine how that would hobble our economy today. it is about bringing north and south together. think of what more we could do with the pist on thes firing in all parts of our economy. when it's wind and wave power, let's make at this time center of europe for the shell gas injury. with brain of the century let's make it mere. we're building an economy for the north and south. embracing new technologies and produces things and sending them to the world. make no mistake about who is looking forward in british politics today. we will leave the social lism to others. it is us. e are the party of the future. [applause]

we're making progress and you know how i know that? it's every week at prime minister's questions. there was a time when i'd look across and see ed and there he was shouting his head off screaming that the economy was flat lining with such glee. recently he's gone a little quiet. could it be because there was no double dip? could it be because the economy is now growing. i have a gesture of my own for ed boles. don't worry, it's not a rude one. jobs are up, construction is up, manufacturing is up, inward investment, retail sales, home building, business confidence, all these things are up. and to anyone who wants to talk our economy coun, let me tell you this -- down, let me tell you this: since this conference

began over 100,000 jet planes have soared into the sky on wings made here. over 4,000 cars are coming off the production line ready to be exported around the globe. last year britain took france top trading partner. that's the port exports to china brazil, ports to russia are all up. let us never forget the cast iron law of politics. yes the oceans can rise, empires can fall, but one thing will never change, it is labor who wrecks our economy and it is we conservatives who clear it up. [applause]

a land of opportunity means educating our children and i mean all our children. it's okay for the children who have parents reading theam stories every night and that's great. but what about the ones at the back of the class in the chaotic home, in the home of the drug addict or alcoholic. we need these children and frankly, they need us. that is why three years ago one man came into the department of education. there he is, michael. [applause] he has this hunal belief in excellence and that dynamic energy. he's a cross of the dure sell bunny. let us look at the results and see what the bunny has achieved. more students studying proper science, more children learning

a foreign language. he's ended dumbing down exams. for the first time our children will learn the new language of computer coding. we are sending a message to our students, if you fail english and math you are going to have to take and retake them again until you pass. why? because as i tell my own children there is not a job in the world where you don't need to spell properly and add properly. unless of course you want to labor's team. but not a career i'd recommend. >> ultimately and michael understand this so deeply, really raising standards means invasion, it means choice. it means giving passionate people the freedom to run our schools. you heard about it this morning. and that is what free schools

are all about. i will never forget sitting in the classroom on the first day of this year, i met a mom there who said to me, this is what i've dreamed of for my child, proper uniforms, high standards, high expectations. this is going to give my child a great start in life. when michael howard asked me what job i would like in the shadow cabinet i said education because what mike sl doing now, these are the kinds of things i came into politics to help bring about. they are magnificent these schools. we must keep it up. and you know what is extraordinary about these free schools, labor's official policy is to be against them. but there are labor m.p.'s who are backing them in their onal local areas. and not just any labor m.p.'s.

i promise i'm not making this up. the shadow secretary stephen has backed a free school in his own city. let me give you a day in the life of twig. at 8:00 a.m. i'm on national radio saying free schools are terrible. but in the afternoon i'm saying what do we free school when do we want it? now. unbelievable. but isn't it always the way of the left. they don't like privilege unless it's for their own children. [applause] we in this party must be ambitious for all our children and finish the job we started. we have great technical colleges, i say let's have one in every single major town in our country. [applause]

've had a million apresent isships start thund government and you heard this morning from samantha. i say let's set a new expectation. as you leave school you have a choice, go to a university or do an apresent is ship. and while we have children leaving school that can't read or write properly, let us eliminate illiteracy and give every one of those children a chance. [applause] and my friends as we do all this, we must remember the most vellnerble children of all. there are thousands of children every year who grow up in homes where bed clothes go unchanged and where their cries of pain go

unheard. these children just need the most basic opportunity of all, a loving family. two years ago at our conference i told you about our determination to speed up adoption. and this past year we saw record numbers finding permanent loving homes. 4,000 children adopted. and that is 4,000 more reasons to finish the job that we have started. [applause] and as we keep on with this, we should remember who is on the front line. i have to take some tough decisions in my job but none are as tough as whether to break up a family and rescue a child or whether to stitch that family back together. social work is a noble and vital calling. i will never forget after our

son was born, a social worker sitting patiently in our kitchen and telling us the sort of help we might need. the government helped get some of the brightest grack watts into teaching and now we've done the same for social work. let's now hear it for britain's social work who do such a vital job in our country today. [applause] the land of opportunity needs one final thing, welfare that really works. we know how badly things went wrong. our fellow citizens working every hour of every day to put food on the table ask this. why should my taxes go to people who could work but don't or to

those who live in homes that hardworking people could never afford or to people who have no right to be here in the first place? and i say this to the british people. you have every right to be angry about a system that is unfair and unjust and that is why we're sorting it out. we have capped welfare, capped housing benefits. we insisted on new rules so if you reject work you lose benefits. and let us be absolutely clear, the problems in our welfare system and the problems in our immigration system are linked. if we don't get our people back to work, we shouldn't be surprised if millions want to come here to work. but we must act on immigration directly too and we are. capping migration, clamping down on the bogus colleges and when the immigration bill comes before parliament we're going to

make sure that simple and fair things that should have always been the case are now set in stone. if you are not entitled to our free national health service, you should pay for it. [applause] if have you no right to be here you cannot rent a flat or house. when you are a foreign prisoner fighting deportation you should pay your own legal bills and if awe peel you must do it from your own country after you've been deported, not from here. [applause] >> and on these huge problems, we are making progress, immigration has come down. on welfare not only are there more people in work than ever

before but the number of households where no one works is at its lowest rate. thank champion this country has in duncan smith. [applause] >> he understands this isn't about fixing systems, it's about saving lives and that is why we ve to finish the job we've started. there are still over a million people in training or education. today it's still possible to leave school, sign on, find a flat, start claiming housing benefits and on the for a life on benefits. isn't it time for bold action here? we should ask if that option should really exist at all.

instead we should give young people a clear and positive choice. go to school, go to a college. get a job. but just choose the dull we've got to offer them something better than that. [applause] and let no one paint ideas like this as callous. think about it. with your own children would you dream to leaving them to their own devices, not getting a job or training or nothing. no, you'd do anything to get them on their way and so must we. this is what we want to see, everyone under 25 earning or learning. [applause] and we know, we know that on this, as on everything else

labor will fight us. but we must remember we are giving people real opportunities. i've had people say to me i'm back on my feet. i feel worthwhile. one wrote to me saying nowic tell me son that his dad really does something. this is what our party is about. we don't pat troize people. we look people in the eye as quals and say you've been down but your not out. you can do it. you have it in you. we will give you that chance. and that is why we will say today it is this party that is for the many, not the few. yes, the land of despair was is r but the land of hope ori.

>> we have done some big things to transform our country but we need to finish the job we've started. we need to go further to do more for hardworking people. to give more people a chance. back more businesses, help create more jobs. and i'm clear about how that job will best get done. it requires a strong government with a clear mandate that is accountable for what it promises and yes, what it delivers. and i want to tell everyone here what that means. when that election comes, we won't be campaigning for a coalition, we will be fighting head, heart and soul for a majority conservative government because that is what our country needs. [applause]

>> there are some strange moments in this job. when i was just a few months in, a member of my staff rushed into the office and said prime minister, you really made it. they are burning an epji of you on television. the first time it happened they didn't spell my name right. they don't make that mistake nifment you don't do this to be popular. you do it because you love your country. i do the best i can and for me it comes back to some simple things, country first, do what is decent. think long term. there is an old story told about a great hall in oxford. for hundreds of years it stood here held one vast oak beans and in the 19th century they needed replacing. and they found 500 years before will need se beans

replacing one day so they planted oak trees. centuries had passed. columbus reached americas and when those oaks were needed they were ready. margaret thatcher once said we are in the business of planting trees for our children and grandchildren or we have no business being in politics at all. that is what we are doing today. not juths making do and mending but making something better. since i got to my feet, almost 100 children who have been born across our country, children of wealth and children of none, children of parents in work and children of parents out of work, for every single one of those newborn babies let us pledge we will build something better, a land of opportunity, a country built on that enduring principle in our hearts that if you work hard, save, play by the rules and do your fair share nothing

should stand in your way. a new welfare system, a new set of values in our schools. not just fixing the mess we inherited but building something better. we have a year and a half until that election. a year and a half until britain makes a choice move forward or go back to something worse. if this party fights with all we have, then this country will make the right choice because we always have before. whenever we have the choice of giving in or pushing forward to something better, we said this is grain, the improbable hero of history, the cun tray that doesn't give in or up. so i look forward to our future and i'm confident. there are bat tols fight but beyond this hole are the millions of hardworking people who renew the great in grain every day in the way they work,

give and raise their families. these are the people we have alongside us. together we have made it this far. together we will finish the job we've started and together we will build that land of opportunity. [applause]

>> prime minister's questions is live this wednesday. you can watch live on c-span2 at 7:00 a.m. eastern or see question time later in the week on sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span, we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences and offering complete coverage of the u.s. house all as a public service of private industry. we're c-span, created by the cable industry 30 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. and now you can watch us in h.d. >> next i.m.f. managing director

christine lagarde. she spoke in washington, d.c. she talked about a number of issues related to the global economy including the ongoing debate in washington over funding and the debt ceiling. her remarks are an hour. >> good morning and thank you very much for this very kind introduction. i think you covered all the grounds as you would be expected to indeed in your position. i would like to tell you also dean brown who is with us, all the professors attending and certainly all of you the students but particularly all of those involved in the student association. and i would like to thank you

madam president for having organized and championed this event that i'm delighted to participate in. i would like to actually express our special gratitude, president, for the fact that you invited us to use your facilities next week. we are neighbors. actually i was telling your president that from my office,ic actually spot on you and check whether you are studying hard or not. andic see you from up there. but we are neighbors. we live next door. many of our staff members walk by, see you, envy you for your youth, your good looks, your ability to study hard. we hope some of you will be joining us some day. and we are undergoing massive construction work had is going to prevent some of our 188

ministers and 188 governors of central banks joining us next week for the annual meetings from enjoying the facilities that are normally available for them. and the president has been kind enough to accept our request to be able to use some of your facilities. thank you ever so much. i would also like to thank the 50 students from george washington university who are going to help us next week shepherd all these very important ministers and governors of central banks. because they know how to navigate their way in the global economy, or we hope so. but not sure they will be able to navigate from h quarter one to this building or to any other facility they will have access to. and a special thanks to the 20 students who for the last two months have been helping our secretary of the department.

they've been helping us organize the event, monitoring the risks and anticipating the unpredictable and i think they are getting some credit for that which i'm delighted about. i went to visit them on the fourth floor of our building last week and they were all busy like bees and a bit surprised i would come down to visit them actually. it's great. i know they are enjoying a good time and good food as well which is not bad.