Download Report on Activities from July 2022 to June 2023
July 2024
10 July - Luxembourg - The 10th Triffin Lecture was given by Pierre Gramegna - Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), CEO of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - on the theme "The Evolution of Europe's Financial Response to Challenges: What Should Come Next?". Organized by The Bridge Forum Dialogue, in partnership with The University of Luxembourg (UL), Europe Direct at the University of Luxembourg (ED-UNILU), Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Parliament (EP) and Robert Triffin International (RTI).
June 2024
17 June - Sofia - ELEC General Assembly - Fabio Masini, invited as a substitute for Bernard Snoy, (Honorary President of ELEC), gave a keynote speech on "The Internationalization of the Euro and the Multilateralization of the Global Financial System"
May 2024
27-28 May - Hangzou, China - Christian Ghymers, delivers a speech on the theme: "The Global South and the International Financial Architecture: How could Regional Monetary Arrangements (RMA) become a game changer for the IMS" at the International Conference "80 years after Bretton Woods: Building an International Monetary and Financial System for all", organized by the Tsinghua PBoC School of Finance, the Global Economic Governance 50 Forum and RBWC.
6-7 May - Lisbon - Conference: "80 Years after Bretton Woods : Relaunching Multilateralism through Regional Monetary Unions", organized by RTI in cooperation with Banco de Portugal and the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, with the financial support of the Centro Studi sul Federalismo and the Gutt Fund
April 2024
3-5 April - Beijing - Anoop Singh held the lecture on "The IMS: building the SDR as a Reserve Asset"
January 2024
11 January – Washington D.C. – Secretary General Fabio Masini is invited at the Convening of Experts organized by Oxfam and the Centre for Global Development on "The future of Special Drawing Rights as a development finance tool".
December 2023
6 December – Luxembourg – Prof. Fabio Masini visits Europe Direct at the University of Luxembourg and the European Stability Mechanism, lecturing in both on the European Economic Governance.
November 2023
21 November – European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, Italy – Cover to Cover Book Talk Seminar Series. Ivo Maes presented the book "Robert Triffin. A Life". Discussant: Marco Buti.
October 2023
4 October – Luxembourg, International Conference: "Towards EMU 2.0: Hindsight and Prospects", organized by The Bridge Forum Dialogue, Europe Direct, Université du Luxembourg, with the participation of RTI. Keynote speakers: Jacques de Larosière and Pierre Gramegna. Bernard Snoy and Elena Danescu participated as speakers. During the conference, Ivo Maes held a presentation of the book "Robert Triffin. A Life"
11 October – IMF Annual Meetings 2023, Marrakech – President Bernard Snoy and Secretary general Fabio Masini participated in the Global Meeting of the Emerging Markets Forum: "Reforming the International Monetary System"
September 2023
13 September – Ivo Maes presented the Book "Robert Triffin. A Life" within the SUERF BAFFI Bocconi - Meet the Author Series. Conference title: "Robert Triffin’s life and research: Takeaways for the current and future international monetary order"
June 2023
15 June – Paris, the 8th Triffin Lecture was given by Jacques de Larosière – Honorary Governor of Banque de France and former General Manager of the IMF – on the topic of his last book “Putting an end to the reign of the financial illusion: for real growth” (Odile Jacob, 2022). The Lecture took place at the “Residence of Belgium”, 25, rue de Surène in Paris, at the kind invitation of H.E. François de Kerchove d’Exaerde, Ambassador of Belgium in France.
16 June – Paris, Conference on the “Internationalization of the euro and the creation of the EU Capital Markets Union” jointly organized with the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC). The theme of the conference was suggested by Governor François Villeroy de Galhau of Banque de France, who came to deliver a keynote address. The event took place in the amphitheater of the BRED.
May 2023
24-26 May - At the invitation of René Karsenti, former Chairman of ICMA, Bernard Snoy participated to the annual conference of the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) in Paris’ Palais Brongniart (former French Stock Exchange). This provided the opportunity to enhance RTI network of contacts and to promote RTI views and publications.
March 2023
28 March – Louvain-la-Neuve. International Conference “Is the International Monetary and Financial System Fit for the Financing of the Ecological Transition?” organised by RTI, UCLouvain, Fonds Gutt ULB.
February 2023
6 February – Bernard Snoy attended the Lamfalussy Lecture as part of an international conference “New Dimensions of Central Banking in the Post-covid Era” organized by the National Bank of Hungary in Budapest. The Lecture was given by Robert Holzmann, President of the Austrian National Bank, who delivered a brilliant tribute to the first Chairman of RTI.
December 2022
October 2022
14 October - "Robert Triffin: A Life" was awarded the Best Book Prize by the Italian Association for the History of Economic Thought (AISPE).
June 2022
22 June – Bank of Italy, Rome; Presentation of the book "Robert Triffin: A Life" by Ivo Maes with Ilaria Pasotti. Discussant: Gianni Toniolo; Governor Ignazio Visco also attended the presentation.
November 2021
30 November - European Parliament, Brussels: Presentation of the book "Robert Triffin. A Life"- by Ivo Maes with Ilaria Pasotti (OUP, 2021). The authors were joined in their presentation by three people who knew Triffin personally - Jacques de Larosière, former Governor of the Banque de France and Managing Director of the IMF; Bernard Snoy, former Director of the EBRD and World Bank; and Professor Susan Howson, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto.
May 2021
17-18 May – Webinar “Financial Crisis, Equity, Democracy and Climate Change: Challenges and Proposals” jointly organized by IRELAC, RTI, CSF and PUC Rio, with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.
October 2020
8 October - Presentation by President Bernard Snoy on the issue “How Could a Stronger International Role for the Euro and the EU Pave the Way to a Reform of the International Monetary System?” at the Conference: « The Werner Report, 50 Years On » EMU in Uncertain Times : Learning from the Past to Navigate the Future - Luxembourg
October 2019
17 October - The conference "A New Global Liquidity Crunch?", jointly organised by RTI and the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, took place in Washington, D.C. On that occasion Managing Global Liquidity as a Global Public Good - A Report of an RTI Working Party was presented.
June 2019
11 June - The 7th Triffin Lecture was given by Carlo Monticelli - Vice Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, Former Head of International Financial Relations, Italian Treasury – on the issue: “The International Role of the Euro and Its Implications for Global Economic Governance”. The Lecture was organized in collaboration with Egmont - The Royal Institute for International Relations, the European League of Economic Cooperation (ELEC) and the Camille Gutt Fund and held at the Egmont Palace in Brussels.
6 June - “Crepe nel sistema: verso un nuovo (dis)ordine monetario internazionale?” (“Cracks in the system: Towards a New International Monetary (Dis)order?”). Conference for the presentation of the book by Fabrizio Saccomanni Crepe nel Sistema. La frantumazione dell’economia globale (Il Mulino), with Collegio Carlo Alberto - Torino
March 2019
The RTI Working Party(WP) met for the first time in Paris on 20 March, under the Chairmanship of Bernard Snoy, to discuss about “Managing Global Liquidity as a Global Public Good”
July 2018
Secretary General Flor and Deputy Chairman Iozzo attended the Global Finance Forum, on the occasion of the inauguration of the International Financial Center of Astana
June 2018
18 June - Conference for the presentation of the research and the paper “The Changing Geography of Finance. Shifting Financial Flows and New Hubs: Shanghai and Paris?” by Miriam Campanella - Torino, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
May 2018
The Sixth Triffin Lecture was given by Jean Lemierre - Chairman of BNP Paribas, Former President of the EBRD and former Director of the French Treasury - on the issue “What role for the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) ? In this time when multilateralism is under threat, could a broader official and private use of the SDRs pave the way to the necessary reform of the international monetary system ?". It was organized by the Robert Triffin International at the Glicenstein Auditorium, BNP Paribas headquarters, in Paris.
April 2018
Secretary General Flor attended the Spring Meeting of the IMF in order to finalise the research program of the RTI.
February 2018
President Snoy and Vice President Ghymers visited a number of personalities in London in view of sensitizing them to the objectives and activities of RTI.
January 2018
President Snoy and Vice President Ghymers made a trip in preparation of the possible organisation of the 2018 Annual Meeting of the RTI in Paris. The mission, including meetings with a number of important personalities, was very fruitful.
June 2017
The Fifth Triffin Lecture was given by Marco Buti, Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission, on the “Reform of the International Monetary System and of the IMF: the G20 and International Macroeconomic Prospects". It was organized by the Robert Triffin International in collaboration with IRELAC and the Egmont Institute at the Egmont Palace in Brussels.
May 2016
The fourth Lecture was given at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve on 11th May 2016 by José Antonio Ocampo, former Minister of Finance and Agriculture in Colombia and former Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations, on the theme “Reforming the International Monetary System”.
The analysis by Mr Ocampo proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the global monetary non-system that evolved out of the breakdown of the original Bretton Woods arrangement in the early 1970s. It includes: (i) a global reserve system that mixes the multi-currency arrangement with an active use of the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights; (ii) stronger mechanisms of macroeconomic policy co-operation, including management of the exchange rate system and capital account regulations; (iii) additional automatic balance-of-payments financing facilities, and the complementary use of swap and regional arrangements; (iv) a multi-lateral sovereign debt workout mechanism; and (v) major reforms of the system’s governance.
October/November 2015
The Robert Triffin International joined the Shanghai Development Research Foundation, the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee (RBWC), the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, SJTU in the organization on the 31st October/1st November 2015 of the seminar “Shift in Global Financial Governance” in Shanghai.
Bernard Snoy and Elena Flor, respectively President and Secretary General of the Robert Triffin International presented during the seminar the work of the RTI and in particular the report on the SDR.
May 2015
The third Triffin Lecture was given at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve on 5th May 2015 by Michel Camdessus, former General Manager of the International Monetary Fund and Honorary Governor of the Banque de France on the theme « Treize ans à la tête du FMI ».
Michel Camdessus discussed how, at the head of the IMF from 1987 to 2000, he tried to reconcile financial orthodoxy and solidarity, to adapt the instruments and policies of the IMF to support the countries in difficulty, including the poorest, and in particular: to overcome their financial imbalances, to accompany the transition from ex-communist countries to the market economy and to promote comprehensive reforms to make the international monetary system and the governance of the world economy more equitable.
November 2014
The Triffin International Foundation and the Agnelli Foundation organized a seminar on 26th November 2014 in Turin on “The International monetary System 70 years after Bretton Woods - The role of the SDR”. In particular a report entitled “Using the SDR as a lever to Reform the International Monetary System” was presented to the audience convened. The report was the result of the work of a group of experts that met a number of times in late 2013 and early 2014. The working group was chaired by André Icard with the incitement and participation of Michel Camdessus, and was convened by the Triffin International Foundation with the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo and of the Agnelli Foundation to exploit the possible future role of the SDR. Moving from the conclusions of the Palais Royal Initiative, the working group focused its attention on the SDR, further expanding the suggestions hereby included.
The result of this work was a report that started by reaffirming the existence of a “built-in-destabilizer” in the present IMS, based on the use of national currencies -mainly the US dollar- as reserve currencies, and by presenting the theoretical first-best solution, which unfortunately was likely to remain out of reach for long. Nevertheless, the need to break free from the status quo led to re-explore the potential role of the SDR for strengthening monetary and financial stability, in a globalized and multi-polar world. Then, based on analytic elements, the report made nine suggestions aimed at overcoming the present deficiencies in the functioning of the IMS through an enhancement of official SDRs and the development of a private SDRs market.
May 2014
The second Triffin Lecture was given at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve on 7th May 2014 by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank between June 2005 and November 2011. He focused his Lecture on « Lâcher l’euro pour sauver l’Europe : un leurre ».
October 2011
In October 2011 a conference organized by the Triffin International Foundation on the “International Monetary System: sustainability and reform proposals” took place in Brussels to mark the 100th anniversary of Robert Triffin (1911-1993). The conference gathered many distinguished participants and valuable contributions on the well-known Triffin dilemma and its actual significance.
The conference envisaged both a review of Robert Triffin’s life and work and their actualization, with specific references to origins and causes of the current crisis and hints to possible solutions. It showed that the Triffin dilemma, even if the economic and financial background is changed, “has remain unsolved and lies at the root of many contemporary problems”. The thirty contributions presented at the conference were then collected in a book In search of a New World Monetary Order, edited by Jean-Claude Koeune and Alexandre Lamfalussy (respectively Secretary General and President – till May 2013 – of the Triffin International Foundation).
February 2011
The Triffin International Foundation was entrusted the coordination of “The Palais Royal Initiative”, a group of 18 experts from 13 countries (former Ministers, Central bank Governors, former officials in national or international institutions) convened by Michel Camdessus, Alexandre Lamfalussy and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa. After a number of meetings in the fall of 2010 and beginning of 2011 a report entitled “Reform of the international monetary system: a cooperative approach for the twenty first century” was issued in February 2011 and an abridged version was presented to the French Presidency of the G20 in January 2011, prior to the ministerial meeting of the G20 Ministers of Finance in February 2011. The avenues of reform presented in the report focus on the one hand on the strengthening of the IMF and of its governance and on the other hand on the need to re-explore the potential role of the SDRs in serving the public common good of monetary and financial stability in the context of today’s globalized and increasingly multi-polar world.
The report underlined that the “scope for the SDR to play a greater role in the international monetary system should be examined”, both as a reserve asset and as an international unit of account. In particular, the “composition of the SDR basket should reflect the relative importance of economies in international trade and financial transactions”, a point which makes reference to the debate on the enlargement of the composition of the SDR basket to the emerging countries’ currencies.
May 2010
The first step of the Initiative was, on 14th May 2010, an international Colloquium ‘Initiative Triffin 21: towards a world reserve currency’, organised by the Triffin International Foundation in co-operation with the Compagnia di San Paolo and chaired by Alexander Lamfalussy and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, took place in Turin and gathered politicians, central bankers and economists from all over the world, all united by the will of developing a multilateral approach to international economic and monetary issues.
The colloquium focused on two areas which constitute the necessary premise of any reform proposal: on the one side, the analysis of the un-sustainability of the present monetary arrangements as a systemic root of the current crisis, and, on the other side, the identification of the requirements of a stable international monetary system.
February 2010
The first step of the Initiative was a lecture given by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa on “The ghost of Bancor: the economic crisis and global monetary disorder” at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve on 25th February 2010.
The text, which addressed the monetary aspect of the economic crisis, constituted the basis of an updating of the Triffin’s thoughts and theories: “Triffin’s criticism of an international monetary system based on an exclusively national monetary policy is still valid, although today it demands a broader formulation, capable of taking into account the exchange rate anarchy and a multiplicity of influential monetary policies.”
November 2009
The Initiative Triffin 21 was launched by the Triffin International Foundation, chaired by Alexander Lamfalussy, with the aim to contribute to the debate on the reform of the international monetary system, on the one side, analyzing the un-sustainability of the present monetary arrangements as a systemic root of the current crisis, and, on the other side, identifying the requirements of a stable international monetary system.
