French Ambassador to visit Charlotte

The Ambassador of France to the United States, Pierre Vimont, will visit North Carolina to meet with elected officials and business leaders to explore new opportunities of cooperation with France.

Vimont first meet with Gov. Perdue in Raleigh and then travel tomorrow to Charlotte to give a talk on trade relations between France and the United States. The talk is being sponsored by the French-American Chamber of Commerce of North Carolina and the Alliance Française of Charlotte.

Vimont will then stay the night in Charlotte and give a presentation at the Charlotte World Affairs Council on French-American cooperation regarding global issues, such as global warming, the fight against terrorism, non-proliferation and disarmament. While in Charlotte, he scheduled to also meet with Jim Rodgers, CEO of Duke Energy, and Chuck Noski, CFO of Bank of America.

Some 3,000 French people live in North Carolina. France exports almost 3 billion dollars worth of goods and services to the U.S. Southeast, mostly in transportation equipment, industrial machinery, wood products, chemicals, electric and electronic products. More than 170 French companies have invested and created new jobs in the region— 60 in North Carolina alone.