US and Francophone mayors sign collaboration agreement

The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) has signed an agreement to strengthen ties with the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) as AIMF seeks to grow its presence in North America.

USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu met with AIMF President and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and AIMF Executive Director Pierre Baillet at the International Association of Francophone Mayors conference in New Orleans last week. Their discussions culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The MOU formally commits both organisations to co-operate on non-monetary mutual services that will take the form of exchanging ideas and information on products and events and encouraging members of the respective organisations to join the other one and attend the other body’s general assembly.

The move comes as Paris-based AIMF, an umbrella organisation for French-speaking mayors from five continents, investigates the prospect of setting up a North American based network of U.S. and Canadian cities with historical ties to France.

While in New Orleans Mr Cochran and Mayor Landrieu also held a bilateral meeting with Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and addressed the opening plenary session of the conference.

Mr Cochran said: “I am pleased to establish this relationship between the USCM and the AIMF. The conference has a long history of involvement in international relations and we have to learn from each other. This is the century of cities.”

Mayor Landrieu joked: “It is true that Premiers and Presidents can sign treaties that declare war. But it’s also true that mayors can do everything else.”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stressed the importance of the global climate change summit happening in the French capital this December. She said: “Climate change is an issue we face every day as mayors.”

Other mayors that attended the conference included Regis Labeaume, the Mayor of Quebec City, Joey Durel, the Mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, and George LeBlanc Mayor of the Canadian city of Moncton, New Brunswick.

Mayor Lebeaume said fifteen U.S. states have French names and proposed a new website be set up for French speakers that informs them about the historical and geographical relationship between France and America.