I am very happy and honored to address the 10^th Anniversary of the International Finance Forum (IFF). At the beginning of the establishment of the International Finance Forum, I was one of the founders. I still remember that Mr. Cheng Siwei and Mr. Paul Volcker served as the chairman and co-chair of the International Finance Forum. I think it's hard to find a founder who is more suitable than them.

In addition, as everyone knows, Mr. Dai Xianglong was the president of the People's Bank of China, and I myself was the president of the Bank of France. During the period from 1995 to 2002, when Mr. Dai was the central bank governor, we were very close. Later, he was transferred to the mayor of Tianjin and the chairman of the National Social Security Fund Council. We still maintain close ties. We have met in several cities in China, and we also met in Frankfurt during my stay as President of the European Central Bank.

I would like to point out that China plays an important role in the reform of the G20 and the international financial system, and the International Finance Forum has made tremendous contributions to this. You may wish me to introduce the governance of the Euro, so please allow me to talk briefly about Europe. Since the outbreak of the most serious economic crisis since World War II, the euro has maintained its credibility and reliability. Of course, as the predecessor of the European Central Bank, I think this is a reasonable thing. But here still hope to emphasize the resilience of the euro.

It is undeniable that the governance of the euro zone still needs further reform and development. But I also wish to point out that when the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt on September 15, 2008, the euro zone had 15 member states. So far, none of the 15 member states have withdrawn, and three new members have joined. Among them, Slovakia and Estonia have joined, and Latvia will also join in January next year. Therefore, the euro zone now has 18 member states, which also shows the vitality of the euro zone.

However, the governance of the euro zone still needs further improvement. We have also made major decisions to strengthen fiscal governance, competitive governance and the promotion of banking alliances. All of these aspects are very important. There is a long way to go in related work, and we can't be complacent. We must continue to work hard. Many major decisions have been made, not only for Europe, but also for the entire world.

The topics selected at the annual meeting of the International Finance Forum cover the hot topics of the financial industry, which have far-reaching implications and are of great significance to the world and China. With the active development of the Chinese economy, discussions on issues such as financial innovation and Internet finance will also has great significance.

I wish the China Financial Forum and the Forum's 10^th Anniversary Annual Meeting a complete success.

(This article is a speech by Mr. Trichet at the 2013 International Annual Meeting of IFF)