Politique Internationale — How did cooperation between the Hauts-de-France and Maryland begin?
Boyd Rutherford — In 1981, Maryland and the region of Nord-Pas- de-Calais established a ‘Sister-State’ relationship. The Sister-State relationship is an outgrowth of the ‘Citizen-to-Citizen’ programme started by President Dwight Eisenhower during the Cold War. The Sister-State programme is designed to promote cooperation and exchange programmes for business and industry, educational and cultural institutions and private citizens.
In 2016, the French regional system merged the Nord-Pas-de- Calais with Picardy to create Hauts-de-France. In doing so, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was needed to formally recognise and continue the relationship. The creation of the new region also presented an opportunity to re-invigorate the partnership by taking a fresh approach ... There was a particular interest in exploring greater cultural, historical and economic ties.
After a preliminary MOU was signed not long after the creation of Hauts-de-France, the formal agreement was signed by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Hauts-de-France President Xavier Bertrand in December of 2020.
François Decoster — The signing of this cooperation agreement was carried out in an unusual way, by video conference because of the restrictions on international travel due to the health situation: Governor Hogan was in the French ambassador’s residence in Washington, received by Ambassador Philippe Étienne, whereas Xavier Bertrand, whom I was accompanying, was received by the ambassador of the United States in France, Jamie McCourt, at the
U.S. Embassy in Paris. This was a strong signal. While international contacts were limited, we had chosen for our part to express just how much the cooperation between a French region and an American state retained all its meaning, and how it was indispensable to strengthen it, especially in the areas of trade, cybersecurity and new technology, horse-breeding, bio health and the ports sector. In some ways we were saying that, despite the distance, our ties were sufficiently strong to envisage the future of our cooperation. This was also the reflection of our common history: in the 17th and 18th centuries, the families of that British territory which was to become Maryland sent their children across the Atlantic and, particularly, to the English Jesuits’ college in Saint-Omer to receive the education they had chosen. Even at that time, distance did not impair trust.
P. I. — What did this partnership with the Hauts-de-France bring to Maryland?
B. R. — Maryland has experienced multi-sector benefits from the Sister-State relationship with Hauts-de-France in business, educational exchanges, and cultural areas. Maryland views Hauts-de-France as a gateway to the French and European Union markets. Hauts-de-France is a recognized leader in life sciences and cybersecurity, as is Maryland. Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of life sciences companies in the United States and is considered the cybersecurity capital of the United States.
Maryland’s Global Gateway Partnership has inspired interest from several French businesses, some based in Hauts-de-France. The partnership refers small businesses looking to enter the United States market to incubator space, and provides a subsidy to offset rent cost, business licenses, and other expenses as they establish themselves in Maryland. The Sister-State relationship with Hauts- de-France was instrumental in launching this programme. Maryland and Hauts-de-France are currently discussing how to arrange a reciprocal programme in France for Maryland businesses.
During Maryland Governor Hogan’s 2022 French trade mission, he signed an additional MOU to launch educational exchanges in horsemanship for students and professional riders. The MOU also extended invitations to spectators and participants to attend and compete in international events in Maryland, including the Maryland Five Star in October 2023 and the Washington International Horse Show, also held in Maryland.
In addition to business opportunities, there are benefits for our respective students interested in learning each other’s cultures. In April 2022, the Maryland Sister-State committee hosted high school students from Alexandre Ribot Lycée, Saint-Omer, in Annapolis, our state Capital.
In October, Vice President Decoster visited Maryland with a delegation representing universities and businesses. They visited several Maryland universities and colleges as well as university and government-affiliated research and development entities specialising in the life sciences. Hauts-de-France university officials met with their Maryland counterparts to discuss student and faculty exchange opportunities. Also, Hauts-de-France life science professionals met with Maryland specialists to discuss the possibility of research and development partnerships.
One of the first successful acts of cultural cooperation within the Sister-State program was the 2019 Saint-Omer Wind Orchestra tour in Maryland and Washington, D.C. For many of the musicians, it was their first exposure to Maryland and the United States, while we were able to enjoy wonderful performances in some of the area’s best venues.
There are also cultural ties between the regions that were previously not widely known. The Carroll family is known as one of America’s founding families, the elder Charles Carroll, or ‘Charles the Settler’, an Irishman who immigrated to America in 1688, settling in the English colony of Maryland. Charles’ grandsons would eventually leave America to study at the College of English Jesuits in Saint-Omer.
Daniel Carroll, the eldest, started at the College in 1742. Daniel would later return to America and eventually be elected to the Maryland State Senate, and go on to become a delegate in the Constitutional Congress and a signatory of the United States Constitution.
Daniel’s brother John started at the College in or around 1747. John dedicated his life to faith and continued to study theology and philosophy. While in Europe, he taught English Catholic exiles, including students from the Jesuit College of Saint-Omer. John returned to America and joined the patriotic cause of American independence. He was in contact with the Marquis de La Fayette and played a role in encouraging the French to enter the war on the side of the American patriots.
John was later appointed Bishop of Baltimore, the first Catholic bishop of the United States. That same year, he founded Georgetown University in what is now Washington, D.C. Georgetown is now known for its foreign affairs programmes and notable graduates such as former President Bill Clinton, former Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani and countless current and former members of the United States Congress and other high-ranking government officials. One of the venues where the Saint-Omer Wind Orchestra performed during their 2019 tour was the Basilica of the Assumption, in Baltimore. Bishop Carroll was instrumental in its design. It was to become the first American Cathedral built after the adoption of the United States Constitution, and a symbol of America’s newfound religious freedom.
In 1808, John received papal permission to erect the Archdiocese of Baltimore, dividing it into four dioceses: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown. He then became the first Archbishop of the United States.
John and Daniel’s cousin, Charles of Carrollton, arrived in France in 1748. He studied at the College, and later graduated from the Louis-le-Grand school in Paris in 1755. Returning to America, through inheritance and property, he became the richest man in the colonies. He took up the patriotic cause through publishing. Despite being denied the right to vote as a Catholic, he was elected to the Continental Congress and to the Maryland State Senate.
In 1776, Charles signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing that this act would place his property, wealth, and life in jeopardy. He was the only Catholic to sign the text.
P. I. — What benefits has the Hauts-de-France region gained from this partnership with Maryland?
F. D. — As the lieutenant governor has just stressed, our partnership permitted us to highlight our historic links. It was in 2009, thanks to Anne Vanhaecke, the deputy director of the Saint-Omer agglomeration economic development agency, that the Carroll family saga was revived. We were also reminded that the Hauts- de-France region received hundreds of students from across the Atlantic, mainly in the Jesuits’ colleges of Saint-Omer and Douai. We rediscovered a whole part of our history! Every year since then, a group of high-school students from our region has been going to Maryland while some 15 students from the prestigious University of Georgetown come for an internship of six to eight weeks in Saint- Omer. This programme, developed by Farima Mostowfi of the French department of the University of Georgetown, is a real bet on the future: it allows future American leaders to create a particular link to our region.
Our cooperation agreement also allowed us to identify
sectors of specialisation within our respective economies. This is true especially in the domain of cybersecurity: Maryland is a pioneer state in this area and Lille each year hosts the International Cybersecurity Forum which has become the main European event dealing with digital security and trust. Working together allows us to bring together world-class talents. We organised in May 2022 a first webinar that included some 20 companies and universities from our respective territories. University cooperation is being built thanks to the commitment of the University of Lille and the Centrale Lille engineering school.
The same goes for our cooperation in horse riding: Maryland organises every year in Fair Hill one of the world’s biggest horse- racing events and the reputation of our racecourses is firmly established. It was incidentally in Chantilly, at the last Prix de Diane, that I signed – in the name of Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region – a specific cooperation accord in the equestrian field with Governor Larry Hogan.
There is another area of excellence at the heart of our cooperation: health. Since 2017, we have organised joint events at big international health salons, especially Medica in Düsseldorf. The health crisis demonstrated the necessity of boosting our international cooperation. Thanks to our partnership, companies based at our Eurasanté incubator are in contact with the Maryland authorities which organise for them a visit of several weeks, or even several months, to discover the market. Three companies from our region were present during my last visit to Maryland, together with Team France Export, and we envisage the participation of a regional delegation to the Maryland Life Sciences Bio Innovation Conference.
More globally, on the basis of the first applications of our new agreement, we wish to facilitate reciprocal access to our markets: Maryland has just launched a soft landing programme for foreign companies that want to move there. We have chosen to circulate this opportunity to companies in Hauts-de-France as we wait to put in place the French component of this programme. Even now, two regional companies are candidates for a stay of several months in Maryland: for them, this is a chance to accelerate their development abroad.
P. I. — How do these privileged links between a French region and an American State help to tighten transatlantic links?
B. R. — Agreements of the sort that we have concluded with the Hauts-de-France on the regional level naturally lead to positive repercussions on the national level. The development of cooperation in the areas of the economy, education or culture unites a number of actors who have every interest in seeing these relations continue. That is exactly what President Eisenhower had in mind when he launched the Citizen-to-Citizen programme. It was a way of favouring peace and prosperity by creating links between the world’s different communities.
F. D. — Our partnership is to a large extent built on a common history that began long before the creation of the United States. One can’t help recalling that John Carroll – whom Boyd Rutherford just mentioned – remembered his years passed in the Saint-Omer college when he placed the first stone of the University of Georgetown. And the education that Charles Carroll received in France no doubt played a role in his political commitment. His stamp on the beginnings of the United States was so strong that national mourning was declared on his death.
This common history rests on values of liberty, tolerance and solidarity that are still today at the heart of the transatlantic relationship. The State visit of President Macron last December recalled this spectacularly. It was also the reason for the creation in 2017 of a Saint-Omer Transatlantic Values Foundation in the presence of the lieutenant governor, the Maryland secretary of state John Wobensmith, who has done so much for the development of our cooperation, and the Archbishop of Baltimore, Monsignor Lori. The foundation, at first hosted by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and then by the Lille Foundation, is run by Édouard de Lencquesaing who is very involved in transatlantic relations. It facilitates cultural and academic exchanges. It was thanks to its intermediary that the restoration of the chapel of the Saint-Omer Jesuits was able to benefit from a generous grant ($250,000) from the Florence Gould Foundation and that the Mona Bismarck Foundation financed residencies of American artists in our region. The latter also organises a masterclass that brings together about 60 participants on a theme of current affairs linked to transatlantic relations.
As an example, each time I go to Maryland, I use my stay to
meet American investors who are considering developing a project in the Hauts-de-France. In October 2021, I went with my colleague Jean-Paul Mulot to the headquarters of the Corning company in Boston while it was planning to install a new factory in Europe and was hesitating between several possibilities. Some months later, its managers settled on a site in the Béthune-Bruay agglomeration in our region. A year later, I was at the headquarters of another big American company, Chemours, in Delaware, for an identical process. In a few years, the Hauts-de-France has become the European region that attracts the greatest volume of direct foreign investment in the industrial domain: the number of American projects there naturally contributes to this spectacular result.
P. I. — In your experience, what are the conditions for transatlantic relations to prosper?
B. R. — A successful transatlantic relationship starts with the involvement of the government, the region or the State at the highest level. Political leaders have to be committed, give their backing and, at the very least, understand the value of this relationship. Their respective administrations must be in regular contact.
In addition, we have realised that it is very useful for a state to have at its disposal a local agency whose mission it is to promote the relationship. In the case of Maryland, this is the twinning committee with the Hauts-de-France. These committees are volunteer organisations made up of ‘citizen-diplomats’ who ensure the durability of the partnership whatever political changes there may be.
Finally, it is important to identify points of convergence. If the partners want to strengthen economic ties, they must seek out industrial sectors where each is present.
F. D. — The specifics of the transatlantic relationship stem from its history and the values that it contains. It is essential to preserve this memory. We are allies. We have fought together in the name of these values and to defend them. In the modern world, this is an essential element that will always unite us because it is on a higher level than the isolated differences that can affect our commercial relations.
It is for this reason too that the transatlantic relationship rests on interpersonal relations. Our political responsibility is to favour them despite distance and despite the costs that this can entail. Our cooperation benefits, beyond our institutions and the splendid work of our respective teams, from the commitment of men and women who make it live on a daily basis, and often far beyond the original programmes.
P. I. — How can cooperation between the Hauts-de-France and Maryland be improved?
B. R. — Increased focus on tourism and university student exchange programmes can improve the overall partnership. From Maryland’s perspective, we can increase our residents’ exposure to north-eastern France and Hauts-de-France in particular. For many Marylanders and Americans in general, Paris is their vision of France. Accordingly, when they plan a visit to France, they instinctively think of Paris or sometimes the south of France. This results in missed opportunities to explore the regions’ historical significance to France and Western civilization.
There are many historical points of interest for an American tourist; from where Joan-of-Arc was captured in 1430, to the site of the German surrender during the First World War, to the subsequent signing of the Franco-German armistice during the Second World War. The regional capital, Lille, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country, with Flemish influence, provides an atmosphere distinct from that of Paris. Located on the route of the Eurostar, Lille forms a convenient triangle with London and Brussels, thereby making it an excellent starting point for continental tourism.
Conversely, Maryland offers French tourists proximity to our nation’s capital as well as unique towns and cities to explore, including our state capital of Annapolis with our historic State House where the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the American Revolutionary War.
F. D. — Our cooperation is finally still quite young in its new formula. It has clear aims and operational tools. It is now essential to cement this dynamic for the long term. We know how much the development of our partnership owes very particularly to the administration of Governor Hogan, Lieutenant Governor Rutherford and to Secretary of State Wobensmith. A new administration is settling in. I am sure that Governor Wes Moore will want to maintain this momentum. With Xavier Bertrand, we wrote to him along these lines.
The involvement of citizens in the Maryland Sister Cities programme – and particularly of Candice Kelly and Patrick Capurro
has emerged as a very strong card to ensure the continuity of our exchanges despite the health crisis. This very inspirational formula deserves to be developed for the Hauts-de-France region.
P. I. — In one word, if you had to describe the sum total of this young cooperation, what would it be?
B. R. — This partnership allowed me, apart from the birth of a new friendship with Vice President François Decoster, to discover the beauty of the countryside and the history of the region. I no longer see France just through a Paris lens.
It had never crossed my mind that Lille was called the ‘capital of Flanders’. To tell the truth, I only knew Flanders through the series In Flanders Fields from the poem by John McCrea, which depicts that appalling butchery that was the First World War. The little cemeteries that I came across on my travels in the region bear witness to all those lost lives.
I was also struck by those photos on glass plates of Afro- American soldiers of the First World War on display in the Pays de Saint-Omer library. They show young men being welcomed by the inhabitants, whereas their country of origin treated them as second- class citizens. It reminded me of how far the United States has come in addressing racial discrimination.
F. D. — The human aspect was also essential to me. This partnership firstly allowed me to get to know Lieutenant Governor Rutherford and Secretary of State Wobensmith, who have become friends. Thanks to them, I know the United States better. I discovered Annapolis, the Maryland capital, probably one of the prettiest American cities with an incredible quality of life. I also understood better how a federal state functions, far from our French centralism. This experience ended by convincing me of the necessity of rethinking our Jacobin model to free up regional and local energies. Maryland – part of whose territory constitutes the District of Columbia as we know it today – is a state which takes decisions closer to the lives of its inhabitants.
As always, opening up to the outside world allows one to grasp other realities, but above all to know oneself better. The partnership between the Hauts-de-France and Maryland is no exception.