00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:07Can you tell us why you came to Nancy today for those two days?
00:11Absolutely.
00:12It's a pleasure being here in Nancy, my first time here.
00:16And I'm here representing as the lead of the United States delegation
00:20here for the Urban Seven,
00:23also representing an organization called the U.S.-United States Conference of Mayors.
00:29And so it's wonderful engaging with my counterparts from around the globe,
00:35and in particular all those who are here today at this meeting,
00:40which is crucial as I look at things that are happening in the United States
00:46and how a lot of that is affecting our global partners.
00:52And so it's important to be here to kind of share a different story
00:56from cities in the United States and how important this work is to have,
01:00you know, sub-national diplomacy, city-to-city international diplomacy,
01:04looking forward in time.
01:06So it's a crucial period in time and very meaningful.
01:09What are your problematics?
01:10And also the stories that we don't see from abroad.
01:14In France, maybe we don't know what's the problematic of your kind of city,
01:18the city that you're a mayor of.
01:19Yeah, so Athens, Ohio is in a more rural area in the state of Ohio
01:27and in the region of the United States.
01:29And so the things that I'm seeing and learning while being here
01:35when it comes to things like climate action,
01:37recognizing that our climate is getting hotter,
01:40that things are changing,
01:42and it is leading to some pretty devastating disasters,
01:46not only in the United States, but again, here in Europe
01:51and around the globe on the African continent.
01:53And so being able to share some of the best practices from my own community.
01:59My city is home to Ohio University, which is a large university in the state.
02:04And therefore, we have a lot of really interesting innovations and technologies
02:10coming out of Ohio University and my community.
02:13And to translate that to other university communities,
02:18cities that have universities that are members of the Urban Seven
02:23is really kind of refreshing and telling a little bit different story
02:27as to how we're managing things in the United States.
02:31and we are really managing things at the city level, you know,
02:35because we have our own challenges with the federal government
02:38and things constantly changing, you know, minute by minute, second by second sometimes.
02:43And being able to be on this stage and to tell a different story,
02:48then I think a lot of Europe and our global partners around the globe
02:52are hearing right now coming from the White House.
02:54What do you want to push forward for the Nancy Convention and bring to the G7?
03:02You know, I think one of the things that we have been hearing all day long
03:05is social justice, climate, looking at supporting our relationships
03:12from an economic development standpoint.
03:15You know, in the city of Athens with Ohio University,
03:17I look at our university has multiple international relations
03:22and multiple faculty from around the globe.
03:25And so we're in a position to where we embrace our international partnerships.
03:30I think a lot of cities in the United States do too,
03:33because they know that they are home to international corporations,
03:37international businesses, faculty from around the globe.
03:40And so, you know, we know the value, we know that we have to continue to create these relationships
03:47and show strong partnership as opposed to, again, a lot of what I think people are hearing
03:53from the federal level that is sometimes counter to what we truly need.
03:58When I look at the faculty and the businesses that are international in the city of Athens,
04:03I also think the employees and those employees probably have children
04:08and those children will go to our schools and they will be, you know,
04:11engaging with their peers and sharing their cultural stories
04:15and then also hearing our cultural stories in Southeast Ohio and Athens, Ohio.
04:20And those things I think are critically important.
04:22And so with, you know, the U7, I think that these are narratives that we're hearing
04:27and starting to really kind of unpack as we look forward in time.
04:31And I'm looking so forward to being one of the signatories on the Declaration,
04:38because, you know, these are the values that our city lives by day in, day out.
04:43It's what the U.S. Conference of Mayors is living towards, as well as the National League of Cities,
04:48to which I am the immediate past president of that organization,
04:51representing every city, town, and village across the United States.
04:54.
04:54.
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