Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
Lagarde: I Don't Regret Warning About Trump; Biden Says He has Decided On Response To Drone Strike; QUEST MEANS BUSINESS Celebrates 15 Years; One On One With ECB President Christine Lagarde. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired January 30, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:31]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: A special edition tonight, 15 years of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good grief. The best interviews, the moments we
have shared together, the markets, of course, we start with those as we always do. Up like a rocket and it is staying there, 137, up a third, the
best of the day. Those are the markets and the headlines to bring to your good attention.
Europe must be strong to prepare for potential harsh decisions from a second Trump administration. Our exclusive interview with ECB President
Christine Lagarde.
President Joe Biden says he has reached a decision on how to respond to the deadly drone strike on US troops. We are awaiting to see what he means.
And unhappy farmers are blocking the key roads into Paris.
We are live from London as we were 15 years ago. Today is Tuesday, January the 30th. I'm Richard Quest, and for the last 15 years, I mean business.
Good evening.
Tonight, the President of the European Central Bank tells me she has no regrets about her warnings on Donald Trump.
I spoke to President Lagarde in an exclusive interview as the ECB reaches a turning point on monetary policy. She tells me while inflation is
comfortably on the way down, it's still too soon for rate cuts.
And Europe needs to get its act together to prepare for the possibility of another Trump presidency. She said she intends to remain in her position
until she fulfills the bank's mandate, and that's getting inflation back to two percent.
It was a good meeting we had at the ECB headquarters, and I pushed Madame Lagarde on when rate cuts from the Central Bank will be appropriate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE LAGARDE, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: We are not there yet and we need more data, more intelligence, more certainty that we are going
to hit that medium term target. And for that, we need all sorts of data. But one of which is critically important. It's the data concerning wages.
QUEST: Inflation numbers, for understandable reasons have risen in some countries -- in some important countries.
LAGARDE: We expected that, and we knew it was going to happen, so we went from 2.4 in November to 2.9 in December. We actually had anticipated a
little more than that, but be that as it may, we are on a disinflationary trend, no question about it, but we need to be further into that process to
be confident.
QUEST: What does that mean, further into that process?
LAGARDE: Well, we need to have three key components, we need the inflation outlook: Where are we at the end of '24? Where are we at the end of '25?
Where are we at the end of '26. That's roughly the three years projections that we have. That's point one.
Point two: We need underlying inflation to also be heading in that direction, because we cannot be only distracted by elements that are very
volatile. You look at the price of oil, gas, electricity, food to a certain point, that's very volatile. We need to understand whether the core
inflation is also on that declining path.
And third, we need to make sure that monetary policy stuns or interest rates, if you will, is transmitted in the financing terms and conditions
offered to all corporates, household, sovereign and then into the economy.
QUEST: This two percent number, you're committed to reaching it, but at the same time, everybody says no, you will all budge before you get there
because if you have to push hard enough to get to two percent, you will tip the economies over.
The last mile will be fudged.
LAGARDE: We have one mission different from the Fed, which has a double mandate. We have one mandate, and that is price stability defined as two
percent medium term and we will get there.
QUEST: When?
LAGARDE: In a timely manner.
[15:05:00]
QUEST: The reluctance to give me or anybody some idea that you are more thinking of cutting before the end of the year than not or some form of
indication where you are in the process. Trends people --
LAGARDE: No, I think -- no, no, I think everyone from the biggest hawks to the smallest doves, I think we all agree that the move -- the next move
will be -- next move, meaning if we don't hold, okay.
QUEST: Yes.
LAGARDE: If we have the option of either cutting or hiking will be a cut. I'm not suggesting that this is the next move, there might be a hold, and
hold, and a hold, and a hold, but the next move will be downwards. I think everybody works on that.
QUEST: Everybody accepts that, it's when. You're not giving me anything that suggests it might be sooner rather than later.
LAGARDE: No, and I shouldn't. I cannot at the same time say we are data dependent and tell you sooner rather than later. I cannot do that.
QUEST: I've read your words on what you said about the election of Donald Trump, very carefully, and at one level, it is unimpeachable, pardon the
phrase, in the sense that you were merely stating the obvious. If he is elected, he has a range of policies that will be very difficult for the
European values.
But the fact that you said it, the mere fact that you said it when most people are running for the hills, to say nothing controversial, do you
regret saying that?
LAGARDE: No, I don't.
QUEST: Is he that much of a threat to European values?
LAGARDE: I don't because, you know, first of all, I think that being constantly, politically correct and perfect in that respect is a risk of
not seeing the reality and preparing for it, and I think that if you look at what those years were when Trump -- when Mr. Trump was president of the
United States, looking at his program now shouldn't prevent you from understanding that there could be threats, and there could be issues for
which the Europeans should be prepared?
QUEST: What sort of preparation are you imagining?
LAGARDE: Let me give you two examples.
QUEST: Please.
LAGARDE: The first one is what I call the capital market union, transforming access to finance for SMEs, small and medium sized enterprises
or large corporates, moving away from lending and more to equity in order to facilitate and encourage innovation.
Second example, we have something that is called here, the single market. Well, it's only single to a point, because when you look at some services,
for instance, it is not yet single. You need to have an equivalence, you need to have a license, you need to do this and that which is different,
whether you know, you want to apply that that professional skills of yours in Germany or in Finland or in France.
So the benefit of being more and really a single market is tremendous. And I think we have to just move in that direction. That's how Europe moves, by
the way -- when it is under threat, so good, let's move.
QUEST: What happened four years ago during the last Trump administration? With the question of tariffs, with the saber rattling? I mean, you are
really saying -- if I understand you, don't be surprised if it happens again. Certainly not now, we've been warned.
LAGARDE: That's correct. And therefore, let us prepare for that. Let us prepare for potential tariffs, for potential hard decisions that would be
unexpected.
So, let us be strong at home.
QUEST: I don't expect you to give me names, but have you had people ring you up and say, Christine, thank God you said that.
LAGARDE: I won't give you names.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Christine Lagarde, we will have more from her, in fact, not only tonight, but throughout the course of the week, as she shows me around the
ECB headquarters in Frankfurt.
The Pentagon says it will respond with its time of its choosing after that drone attack, which killed three US troops in Jordan on Sunday.
General Pat Ryder started to field questions from reporters a short while ago, and the US says Iran-backed militants were behind the attack.
President Biden said he has decided how he'd respond, though he didn't give any details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do hold them responsible essentially for supplying the weapons to the people who did it. I don't
think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That's not what I'm looking for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Jim Sciutto is with me.
Jim, everything I have read on this side of the Atlantic and the commentary from yours, this is going to prove to be the most difficult of decisions.
Now, the president says he's made it, but we don't know what, but it's a no win for him.
[15:10:03]
JIM SCIUTTO CNN ANCHOR: Listen, he's between a rock and a hard place here, right? Because the two goals you want to accomplish; one, to deter future
attacks that threaten the lives of US servicemembers in the field, three servicemembers lost their lives earlier this week.
You want to deter those without, the administration says, broadening the war and there is an argument that those two things are antithetical because
if the US responds more strongly, as it is expected than it has so far to a whole series of other attacks that weren't yet deadly, they will factor
into that decision an Iranian response, which presumably might be larger than ones we've seen in the past.
So you have an escalatory element, and you have a deterrent element and those two things are in fundamental conflict here.
The other piece is this, Richard, is that it raises a broader question that is this approach to this current conflict failing, right? Of limited
military intervention, surgical strikes, whether it be against Houthis, the Houthi rebels in Yemen for their attacks on shipping, the Iranian-backed
militias in Iraq and Syria for their attacks on US servicemembers, Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, right, to prevent a front there.
None of that is holding back the expansions of each of those conflicts, not quite to a hot war, but they're pretty darn warm, right?
And it raises that fundamental question, is the combination working? It doesn't seem to be working right now.
QUEST: The president in the White House would obviously say that they will make their decisions on National Security grounds, but how far is the
election a relevant factor in this?
SCIUTTO: It's a good question. Listen, of course he's getting flak from the Republican side. The easiest sport in Washington is to tell the other side
to hit a bad guy harder, right, to hit an adversary harder when you don't own the consequences.
Every party is guilty of it from when they're sitting on the outside. We should note, the fact is that multiple US presidents including Donald Trump
did not attack inside Iranian territory, right? They've attacked Iranian assets. Donald Trump ordered, in fact that killed a senior Iranian
commander, but not on Iranian territory.
So you're hearing some -- many in the Republican party saying he's got to hit Iran itself now. Well, fact is, a series of Republican and Democratic
presidents have deemed that too escalatory, right?
So, you know, the political sniping is happening. I don't know, of course, anything that happens this year is going to have a political element to it
and it is going to be run through that filter. But it strikes me that when I talked to administration officials, they're trying to keep a small war
from becoming a very large war and that seems to be their focus right now.
QUEST: Jim, good to see you, sir.
SCIUTTO: Good to see you.
QUEST: I am grateful. Thank you very much. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Thanks.
QUEST: And a special -- a very special day for us here on the program as we celebrate 15 years on air, and during that time, we've covered remarkable
stories -- the Great Recession, Brexit, pandemic, and heard from remarkable voices and people.
In 15 years, I found it's not just who you're interviewing, it's how we all go about it that makes the big difference.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Doing an interview is like ballroom dancing. If you both come prepared to do the same dance, it will look great.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: It is a book on Howard Hughes. I definitely want to make sure I don't grow my fingernails too long and start peeling jobs.
QUEST: You beat me to the line.
I'm just going to go for this and hope that you'll give me an answer. What was it like in the packet?
CARLOS GHOSN, FORMER CEO, NISSAN: Freedom, no matter the way it happens is always sweet.
QUEST: The big names are important.
Do you get angry?
DALAI LAMA, SPIRITUAL LEADER: Oh, yes.
QUEST: Whether it's the Dalai Lama or Prince Charles as he was then, now the King.
KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: I think the mood has changed and people have become much more concerned suddenly about the situation we face.
QUEST: Not because they're big names, and you just want to get them on, but because they will add something to it.
BILL GATES, FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: The things we take for granted can over time be available to everyone that lives on the planet.
QUEST: I think the one that really comes to me every time is Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
To get the first English interview -- interview in English.
There is no easy way to ask any of these questions.
DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR, IMF: There's no easy way to answer them.
QUEST: Fine, so I'm just going to ask it straight out. What were you thinking that day in New York?
STRAUSS-KAHN: Frankly, I don't remember exactly.
QUEST: Angela Merkel, very gracious when you meet -- when I met her and did the interview.
It's not easy.
ANGELA MERKEL, FORMER GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): I always say, if everything were easy, we don't need politicians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Out. Down. Good. Step.
QUEST: If I come prepared to do the foxtrot and you want to do the Roomba or tango, there will be a lot of noise and fury and it might be and sort of
a good laugh, but we won't make progress.
Well, I have to admire the way in which you've sidestepped it.
BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me tell you, I'll give you an answer anyway.
[15:15:07]
QUEST: But what we have here Prime Minister, is an investigation or minister who speaks the language of transparency, but the practicalities of
seeming to do the opposite.
NAJIB RAZAK, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA: I hear the voices out there, Richard.
QUEST: The interviewee's willingness to go with me and to know where I'm going is as essential as the questions.
Are you Cesar?
BANG SI-HYUK, FOUNDER, HYBE CORPORATION: Small groom -- no way. No way. I'm a fan of -- big fan of a democracy.
QUEST: You are Mr. Abba.
BJORN ULVAEUS, MEMBER, ABBA: Yes, I've accepted that long, long ago. There's no way out of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Fascinating. Where did the years go? Now, today's question, do you want a chip implanted into your brain? Would the benefits outweigh the
risks?
Elon Musk's startup, Neuralink did that apparently, to a first human participant. What the company wants to accomplish and how they want to go
about it after the break? The break. The break. The break. The break. The break.
The chip's gone wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: Speaking as somebody who's done 15 rounds with Richard Quest, I can say that he's a great business interviewer, great journalist lad. I
look forward to another 15 years of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Richard, on this anniversary, a few words to describe you.
You are indefatigable, and you never stop. Sleep is always optional for you and I don't know how. Your enthusiasm is infectious, and has been an
inspiration to me for many more years even than QUEST MEANS BUSINESS has been around.
And you're unafraid, you're intrepid with your questions and your travels and explorations, and you're a loyal friend.
So congratulations on these 15 years of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS and here's to the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Richard Quest, congratulations on 15 years of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. There is no one else
like you and it is an honor and a joy to work with you and I wish you the best. Here is to 15 more amazing years.
TOM ATHRON, CEO, FORTNUM & MASON: Hi, Richard, and all the team at QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. It's Tom Athron here from Fortnum & Mason, Richard's
favorite biscuit supplier. Fifteen years, I can't believe it. You all look so young. Extraordinary.
Happy birthday to you all many happy returns. Keep doing what you're doing.
KEN FISHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FISHER INVESTMENTS: From Argentina to Zimbabwe, absolutely no one covers, all weird bizarre twists in the world's
far flung corners like you do, Richard. Thanks. Happy 15th, but don't stop. Remember, we need you doing this for years and years to come.
Happy birthday, you're still a young guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:20:26]
QUEST: I am not sure I'm feeling it all that young, but maybe in our next story, there will be a way that I can stay young and beautiful.
Elon Musk says his biotech startup, Neuralink has implanted a chip in a human brain for the first time. Musk says the results were promising
without offering many details.
Neuralink aims to develop a way to connect the human brain to computers. He says the company first product would be called "Telepathy" and its initial
users will be people who have lost use of their limbs. Neuralink was approved last year to begin human trials.
Clare Duffy is with me now.
There are so many levels we can look at this, Clare, but the reality is, Musk has an exceptional track record of doing the very difficult and almost
impossible things.
So what's this all about? What's his hope here?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Right, Richard. So ultimately, what Neuralink is hoping to do is to use these implantation chips, these brain
implant chips, to connect human brains to computers to do things like helping people who have been paralyzed regain access to their limbs. He has
also suggested that it could help people who have lost their eyesight to regain the ability to see. Of course, we have a long way before he's going
to get there.
This first human trial, we don't know very much about this person, about how it went beyond Musk saying that it is recovering well. And so it's a
bit unclear at this point about just how significant this is ultimately going to be for Neuralink.
Of course, getting through this implantation surgery is really just the first step in this larger testing process that the company is doing of the
safety and efficacy of these brain implant chips.
And so the proof is really going to be in what we hopefully are going to hear about how this person is progressing in the coming weeks and months --
Richard.
QUEST: Now, the difference between this and perhaps some of the others is that this is going to have to be done in the -- to a certain extent, in the
public glare. The regulators, the FDA or whichever regulator is involved with all of these medical tests, is not just going to give a blank cheque
here and say well, just go now and go and put a chip in somebody's brain. They are going to want to know exactly what, where, when, and how, in very
much the same way, as say, for example, the FAA, and NASA all want to know what he was doing with space.
DUFFY: Right. This is not an area where he's going to be able to use the Silicon Valley model of moving fast and breaking things that is not going
to fly when you are messing with people's brains. Of course, you know, this is an area that's heavily regulated.
The company has faced significant regulatory scrutiny over the past couple of years, as well as concerns that its procedures weren't necessarily safe
for the animal subjects that it was testing on previously, but the company did receive FDA approval to begin these human trials.
And I will say, too, that Neuralink is not the only company that's working in this space and it is a space where experts say there is a lot of promise
to help people who are suffering from neurological issues.
So, you know, Elon Musk has wowed us before, maybe this is the space where he's going to do it again.
QUEST: What's the next stage in all of this? I mean, where does it go from here? Does he fit through another one? Does he sort of tell us what he's
done? And wonderful for you, Clare, would you have a chip popped in the old brain?
DUFFY: Heck no, Richard, not by Elon Musk, or anybody else. But you know, I think the next steps here are first of all, watching how this person
progresses. This was really a test of how well did the implantation procedure work? How safe was the procedure? How safe is the chip? And then
how effective does it end up being?
And the company has said that it's looking to recruit more humans for more of these human clinical trials over the next couple of years. And so I
think it'll be really interesting to hear who was this person who said, yes.
QUEST: Absolutely.
DUFFY: They were recruiting people who had -- who were struggling with paraplegia, were struggling with having been paralyzed and so perhaps this
is something that's going to really help people.
QUEST: Glad to have you with us tonight, Clare Duffy, many thanks.
DUFFY: Congratulations, Richard.
QUEST: Oh, thank you. Yes, yes, they are putting a chip in me just to keep me going. Grateful to have you with us.
Now, from actually the most high tech to something rather down and basic if you can imagine, French farmers continue to block highways outside Paris.
It's a second day.
The tractors are parked, it is blocking for miles. They are calling a siege to put pressure on the government, angry about high taxes, excessive
regulations, and not being paid, and the farmers also blocked access to an airport in southwestern France and it is all leading to the EU Summit,
which is going to be focusing on budget matters.
Similar protests in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Spain.
Melissa Bell is in Paris.
Oh dear, I mean when did you -- when did you last move in that jam?
[15:25:08]
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Richard, it has just begun inching forward. Clearly, my plan was not to be speaking to you from a car in the
traffic, but this is the point.
We were trying to follow the farmers as they moved closer towards Orly Airport. This has been their aim, you mentioned, too, a moment ago, to
cause as much disruption as they can across motorways.
We were at a blockade earlier, and I think, because I can't show you much of what's going on around from the sky up, your producers can show some of
what we shot earlier.
Some of those roadblocks that have been caused all over the country over more than a week now, but they've now been getting closer to Paris. This
was one of the big auto who's leading into Paris that we were actually just a short while ago. The farmers then moved 15 kilometers up. We're following
them to get towards Orly. That is their point, to try and block the airports to cause even more disruption than they have so far -- Richard.
QUEST: Now for the French people, is this a case of just shrugging the shoulders? This is what happens or are they angry about what's happening?
BELL: The farmers are pretty furious. For now, the disruption for others has been pretty much outside of Paris. It is their threat, though, of this
siege. It started yesterday, their threat and their plan is to carry on for as long as it takes, Richard, to cause a proper siege of Paris.
And in the words of one of the farmers we heard from earlier, to starve Parisians of their food by preventing anything from getting in to the city.
So there are a great deal of anger out there.
The farmers are really fed up about a number of things: European regulation, high taxes, the fact that cheap imports are competing with
their produce, it's possible they say for them to earn a living. And all of that, as you say, is going to culminate in Brussels on Thursday, when this
is taken to the European level.
For now, the government, we heard from the new prime minister here in the Parliament, he announced very little, and that's what the farmers in there,
angered to drive 15 kilometers up the road, causing the traffic jam that we're now stuck in -- Richard.
QUEST: Well, I hope you've got good provisions in the car and we will talk as you as you make your snail's progress.
Thank you, Melissa Bell, in a car outside Paris. Well, she might get there this time next week.
Coming up in a moment, 15 years, we've seen a lot together. The most memorable moments, in just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Hey there. It's Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst and Richard, I want to say happy 15th birthday
and I mean business when I say it is always a pleasure to be with you and I look forward to many more years covering the news ahead.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, ECONOMIST AND ADVISOR, ALLIANZ: Happy Birthday QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Thank you for 15 wonderful years, 15 years of great
reporting, and 15 years of wonderful insights. You've made us, your audience smarter and well-informed and you've made us the guests that
appear on your show think harder and answer some really insightful questions, and all this has been delivered in a manner that only Richard
Quest can do -- highly engaging, funny and serious.
Happy birthday, and here is to 15 more years of great success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:32:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER SZIJJARTO, HUNGARIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Yes, Richard, let me take this opportunity to wish you and your colleagues a happy birthday.
I'm very happy that I came to know you. I'm very happy that I had the honor on many occasions to appear on your show, and I really do hope that we will
have the chance for similar kind of talks in the future. Happy birthday to you and to your entire crew.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": What an incredible accomplishment. 15 years on the air. To Richard and a fantastic QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS team, congratulations. I know our viewers in the United States and indeed around the world, including me, are smarter after watching your
coverage. Business news is never boring, thanks to Richard Quest's energy and curiosity. We'll be tuning in for the next 15 years. Bravo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Thank you so much, kind friends.
Small dark storm clouds have been hollering ominously over the global economy. There may be sunny skies ahead. The IMF says the storm clouds are
beginning to part and it's upgrading its forecast for global growth, claiming the world's economies finally began a descend to the soft landing.
Now inflation is slowing in most countries. And as we've already heard, central banks have signaled that the next move down, or the next move will
be down, but exactly when and how is the unknown. Yes, and that still warns of possible turbulence, saying geopolitical shocks could lead to renewed
inflation.
Now, Christine Lagarde, of course, used to serve as the IMF's managing director before she joined the ECB, and she was well-known for her whether
metaphors. She always used to say that you fix the roof when the sun shines. Now she says she intends to stay in her position until inflation
returns to 2 percent in the euro area.
So how is the decision made? Where are the big decisions taken and the governing council?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Do you get much work done in here looking at this view?
LAGARDE: I don't look at it very much actually. I know it's there. It's the financial center of Frankfurt, but I'm sufficiently far away from them to
appreciate the independence of the central bank.
QUEST: Good. That was quick. That was quick. We're going to the governing. We're going to the governing council.
LAGARDE: Let me take you there.
QUEST: Have you got a good idea of where everybody stands? I always remember it famously said that, you know, Alan Greenspan never wanted to be
on the wrong side of the decision. He knew what the decision would be before he does it.
LAGARDE: I generally know where we're going to end up at the end of the meeting. Yes. Because I talked to them. I know where they stand. I know
where their sort of policy backbone is and how we're going to rally a majority.
[15:35:07]
But during the meeting, everybody talks. They all say their views. And the chief economist, you know, having consulted with me, makes a proposal and
then we tried to defend it. Thank you.
QUEST: Oh, wow.
LAGARDE: This is the governing council room. So I sit here and the 20 governors sit around the table.
WHITFIELD: Is there any case of no, I don't agree with you on that or not? Is it just as --
LAGARDE: It happens, but, but, but, I'm sharing the meetings, so if they want to do to say I disagree or, you know, I would like to qualify the
point made by my colleague, they go like that. So it's a two hands, but it's -- so it's free fold but disciplined.
QUEST: Wow.
LAGARDE: And it works.
QUEST: Do you feel, you know, you've got to keep -- it's like a horse. You know, you've got to keep it on a tight rein. Otherwise, it'll get away.
LAGARDE: A bit. If only for time pressure. Because they all have lots of very interesting things to say. Difficulty is to say it in less than five
minutes. So some of the governors whom I really liked very much are notorious for speaking and speaking and speaking for a long time, so to
those ones, I occasionally, you know, when it reaches four and a half, five minutes, I go, and they know.
QUEST: Do you feel tensions in the council, in the governing council? No, I'm not saying outright battles, but tensions between those countries that
would like more near-term rather than farther.
LAGARDE: Yes, there is a bit of that tension and it depends on, you know, category of things. One is it depends where they sit. There are countries
where inflation has already gone down significantly and there are countries where inflation is still quite high, despite the fact that when they sit in
the room, there are representatives of the euro area. They still have their national, you know, heart and hat on, if you will.
And second, I think it's also a factor of their attitude towards monetary policy. Some of them are more hawkish by background, by DNA, and others are
less hawkish.
QUEST: I need to talk about yourself. I mean, how many years now you've been here in this job?
LAGARDE: Over four years now.
QUEST: What would you want to do next?
LAGARDE: I want to finish that job and I want to get --
QUEST: Oh --
LAGARDE: No, no, I want -- you asked me about this timely manner. OK?
QUEST: Yes. Yes.
LAGARDE: I want to get to 2 percent, and I want to get to that 2 percent sustainably so that people in the street, who do their shopping and who go
to the petrol station, appreciate that we are doing the job for them. Once I've done that --
QUEST: Have you just given yourself a target? I don't just mean the ECB targets. She's there until 2 percent. Once you're 2 percent --
LAGARDE: Three and a half years. It's interesting. It's the duration of our protection.
QUEST: How aware are you that this is at the very top of the financial ship? That there are X hundred million people underneath that are going to
feel the effect good, bad, or indifferent, of that's taken this room?
LAGARDE: See that structure out there? It's -- you really have to appreciate, but it's an aluminum representation of Europe.
QUEST: What?
LAGARDE: So when in doubt, governors have to think that above them are the Europeans. This is Europe, and we are serving them.
QUEST: Can I sit in your chair?
LAGARDE: Of course you can.
QUEST: Excuse me. Too long. Turn him off.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The look the president gave me said it all as I sat in that chair, get out. Next week, maybe.
Right. Freezing cold water, fighter jets and unexpected guests. In the past 15 years, we have enjoyed the lot together. And so as we celebrate tonight,
a look back at those special, often wet, frequently funny, but always delightful moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bucket of ice water.
QUEST: Those bucket challenges are big one because everybody was doing it. We wanted to do it, but we also wanted to do it in a QMB way, live on air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god. Richard, how do you feel? How do you feel, Richard?
QUEST: Really extraordinary to be flying so close to other aircrafts.
I wasn't particularly looking forward to this. It's not the G-forces. It's been sort of the ups and downs. And I knew what was going to happen with
the dry cleanings. I mean, sure enough, it wasn't long before I wasn't feeling well.
[15:40:07]
But I'm always keen to say the pilots of these fighters or these aircrafts are always very charitable. They just, you know, they point out where the
baggies, if you need it.
Oh, and here we have a visitor.
Oh, this was lovely. This was just beautiful. It was during the pandemic. We're interviewing the CEO of Trivago and his son comes into the room and
his son is not going to leave. You know, you just go with it.
Are you OK to be -- oh, no. Victor is determined.
JOHANNES THOMAS, CEO, TRIVAGO: That's OK.
QUEST: There's one thing the pandemic and working from home taught us is this is what happens in real life. And, you know, something we carried on
with the interview. And if we'd had to abandon it that would have been fine, too, because it was a moment of real life.
For me one of the highlights was ringing the closing bell at the Munich Stocks Exchange.
I am not ashamed to admit that this is one of the best days of my professional life. I was as nervous as hell in case I got it wrong.
And if you get it wrong, by the way, they boo. The traders, I'm told they boo. But no, it all went well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: It was amazing doing that. And the market was at a record on that particular day. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
This cake is not for me, it is for you, because at the end of the day, you've suffered along with me. We've had lots of laughs along the way so
get yourself a nice big plate and enjoy a piece of this cake with me as well.
I'll have a dash to the closing bell and (INAUDIBLE) at the moment. But only after you've been to Zanzibar with me. A world of wonder. Look at
that. Enjoy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. I love traveling the world. Broaden the mind. Open the heart.
It really is quite something to see all this.
And I'm not done yet.
[15:45:05]
It's time to embrace new adventures. Find the fun. Seize the moments.
Spectacular.
In this "World of Wonder."
The Cessna caravan awaits me.
Good morning. Good morning, morning. Gosh, this is great.
The stalwart of African aviation, they can take off and land just about anywhere.
You can feel the wings just wanting to fly. There we go. That's right.
I'm going to (INAUDIBLE), the second largest island in Zanzibar's archipelago of more than 50. Here farming rules, particularly spices.
Barely moments before my nostrils catch the scent.
That takes to the back of the sinuses, cloves.
Cloves, cloves, and even more cloves. Zanzibar was at one time the largest producer of cloves in the world. Even now the place smells like a dentist
surgery. My dentist Doctor Sachs most certainly wouldn't approve of my next destination.
Halwa Ya Wety, a local dessert shop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The secret of it is more you've been making. This is where it all happens.
QUEST: This is the magic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the magic.
QUEST: Add sugar rosewater and throw in a ton of local spices, and mix and mix and mix some more. It's a twist on a traditional Middle Eastern desert.
Oh, my god, the smell. How long does he do this for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been doing it for the past 20 years.
QUEST: Twenty years?
I couldn't manage 20 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rough enough, isn't it?
QUEST: Well, I don't want to ruin it and I'm guessing that there's a real art actually. You know who would have approve?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who?
QUEST: Mr. (INAUDIBLE).
My etiquette coach from London who had a lot to say about stirring has obviously been here.
He's stirring it the right way. We can delay it no longer.
It's been a traditional favorite dessert, a daily naughty if you will that has them queuing up.
How long will that last here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One day.
QUEST: You, your family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Himself.
QUEST: All right. Here we go. It's pure, unadulterated sugar. It's delicious.
Life isn't easy in (INAUDIBLE). But that doesn't stop people enjoying it to the full. They've invited me to lead the annual parade. They told me it was
to celebrate the donkey and its important role in farming life.
Oh, that's my donkey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the one you're going to go.
QUEST: What's his name or her name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dongo.
QUEST: Dongo. Dongo. You said that with a straight face. How do I get on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use your experience.
QUEST: Oh, yes, tons of that.
Smelling uploads, fortified with sugar, and holding an umbrella sitting on a donkey. This is living.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever done anything like this before?
QUEST: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not exactly sure what you're doing, to be honest.
QUEST: Nor I. But it's great fun. They've got more energy, more excitement, more enthusiasm, more oomph that I could ever muster.
I'll be needing a good night's sleep before tomorrow's race. I have a boat to sail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:42]
QUEST: It is the weekend. The sea is glorious, and I have a race to face.
I'll confess I've spent a few hours worrying about today. It's yachting. I want to do the best I can for the captain. I don't want to look like a
complete clunker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is possible.
QUEST: That was dripping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as you don't go in. As long as you don't hurt anyone.
QUEST: That's a very low bar. That's a very low bar. Good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. How are you? Everything OK?
QUEST: Is it going to be good? How many times you actually do this before you're stopped? There are the three boats.
Before we begin a refresher with the remnants.
Just show me this again. Yes. Sorry.
I had hoped this demonstration would psych out by competitors.
I hope you're ready to lose.
They seemed more amused than worried.
Laugh at that. Laugh at that.
Something feels different on this craft. The captain has changed boats for a larger, heavier one.
This is not as firm as the other one was.
QUEST: He says it's easier for me to manage. This is going to be a race worthy of "WORLD SPORT."
DON RIDDELL, WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: It is a beautiful morning in Zanzibar. I'm Don Riddell and today is a perfect day for a boat race. The three boats are
lined up and ready to go.
QUEST: Ready, get set, race.
And they're off.
Go. Before they realized.
RIDDELL: A slow start for Richard and Ali (PH) but we didn't expect anything less.
QUEST: You want me to pull?
RIDDELL: But it does look like he's handling those ropes with some ease. Boats two and three are neck and neck as we head into the first hundred
meters. Boy, wait a minute. It seems all three boats are stalling.
QUEST: There's no wind, Captain, Captain, there's no wind. This is turning into the most feeble of races. I don't like to be on the region's park
boating lake. Wait a minute, there's the wind. There's the wind.
RIDDELL: What a turn of event. And just like that, we have ourselves a race, Richard and Ali taking a commanding lead, if you can believe it. Hang
on a minute. It seems as though there's a problem with the boats.
QUEST: It's come off. You see?
RIDDELL: What a devastating blow for Richard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rather looks complete (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
QUEST: Is that your considered maritime opinion, Captain awesome Al, never knowingly done anything more than swam in his bathtub?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure there's a proper maritime expression to your rudders (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
QUEST: And actually it's only a piece of string that's holding it on. I am now just a passenger. I mean, we've given up any (INAUDIBLE).
RIDDELL: And just like that Richard has finished last.
QUEST: Another familiar sight, being towed back to shore. Even though I've lost the race, I got a smile ear to ear.
Further down the same beach is one of Zanzibar's most famous restaurants. It's unusual anywhere in the world. It is called the Rock and it stands
proud on top of a natural formation.
I'm told the food is magnificent.
The Rock has a fairytale look but serves very real and very good food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what a (INAUDIBLE) is octopus.
QUEST: The owners saw the Rock and realized its potential and convinced the locals to let them build without destroying the environment.
[15:55:06]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Richard, are you ready for the experience?
QUEST: They experience, I'm ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is our crab ravioli. (INAUDIBLE).
QUEST: Very good. I'm not sure your palate is worthy of this taste.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's see. Come on.
QUEST: I'm feeding in our mind. Savor it. Allow it to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's delicious.
QUEST: That is understated, subtle. Savor, savor.
We savor too long, and now get to discover the Rock's quirk.
Hang on. Who turned the tap on? You've flooded the place.
This is the true magic the Rock. At high tide, the ocean rushes in, surrounding the restaurant. And the only way off is by boat.
I think this is going to be the shortest ferry ride I've ever taken. That is absolutely right something.
And the sun is setting. On my last night in Zanzibar there is a buzz, people out and about dancing swimming, simply enjoying the spirit of island
life. The Hakuna Matata feels as vibrant when I arrived.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'm deeply privileged and honored to be with you at this time every night. I hope that between us, we have a debate, a discussion, we get to
grips with world economic issues. And of course corporate events.
The times ahead are going to be hard. But with a bit of humor, a lot of goodwill, and just smile. Well, we might even have some fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: That was the first profitable moment on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS 15 years ago. And what I'm most proud of is that I could say exactly those
words to you tonight.
END
