Press Room

Global Partnering: Q&A with Claire McLeveighn

Atlanta is actively positioning itself as a leading international city, Claire McLeveighn, the director for external affairs and international relations in the mayor’s office, told GlobalAtlanta.

She said in an interview, Jan 19 at the mayor’s office downtown that Atlanta was currently considering partnerships with cities in key economies such as Argentina and China.

Ms. McLeveighn also said that Atlanta was looking at ways to work with international development agencies such as CIFAL and the World Bank. "What better way to propel our globalization as a city than to share our best practices and to learn from other municipalities," she added.

The transcript of the complete interview with Ms. McLeveighn in which she discusses Atlanta’s continuing internationalization efforts follows. She may be reached by calling (404) 330 6100.

GlobalAtlanta: You spearhead Atlanta’s international efforts in Mayor Franklin’s office. What are some of your key focus areas?

Ms. McLeveighn: One of our top priorities is operationalizing the first year of the Sister City Commission Strategic Plan. The Commission was created in the 1970s though a number of our Sister City relationships are older than the commission itself. Atlanta has Sister City relationships literally all over the world – with seventeen cities in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. We are about to formalize our partnership with Fukuoka, Japan, on Feb 8.

This organization given the proper support and direction can play a major role in positioning Atlanta globally as a leading international city. There are many areas in which we have helped other cities through our individual city relationships. There have been medical missions, educational exchanges, sharing of best practices and technical assistance particularly with public safety, planning and traffic control. We have recently come to the conclusion that we have a lot to share about water management for example given our experience and our mayor’s very capable handling of that situation.

So one of the big priorities is to operationalize those goals in the first year that will strengthen the commission and send it forth in this new direction as a very capable and exceptional organization.

GlobalAtlanta: You were recently in China looking at possible Sister City partnerships. Obviously China features heavily on your radar screen?

Ms. McLeveighn: As you know China is a key trading partner of Georgia and the United States. We have a number of companies in metro Atlanta area with major activities and investments in China - UPS, Coca Cola, Home Depot, Newell-Rubbermaid and to some extent CNN. You cannot access CNN everywhere but you can in the major places such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. We realize that having a Sister City partnership can be a distinct advantage in sustaining business and trade relationships. And of course the cultural awareness that is always a part of a Sister City partnership is very helpful in creating the kind of understanding that makes people comfortable in a business situation. There are a number of cities in China that we are looking at and we are seeking the input of companies in Atlanta that have an interest in China. There are just so many things to consider and there is also the fact that the Chinese Sister City organization does not allow Chinese cities to twin with more than one city in the U.S. I think they want to see the largesse and the advantages of such partnerships being equitably distributed across the country especially in those areas of China that are not yet developed. They could benefit greatly from the partnering with a U.S. city. However we also have to consider where Atlanta businesses are because that helps keep the relationship going. I obviously don’t have the time or the budget to go back and forth to China frequently. However if we are in a place that is strategically located for all these Atlanta companies that are in China then the maintenance of the relationship is shared and it benefits all of us. So we are looking for the stars to line up in the right way so to speak in order to identify the right city and the right region.

We are also looking at a possible relationship with the city of Cordoba in Argentina. The Argentinean consul general, Mr. Carlos Layus, has been instrumental in setting that up. Of course, we are very interested in Argentina as a very major force in Latin America. If we finalize and formalize this partnership, Atlanta will have relationships with cities in the two largest economies in Latin America, Brazil and Argentina.

GlobalAtlanta: Atlanta is increasingly looking to play a stronger role in development efforts. You have had discussions recently with the World Bank through CIFAL Atlanta. What are some of the outcomes of these discussions in terms of Atlanta’s role globally?

Ms. McLeveighn: As you know, the city of Atlanta entered into a partnership with UNITAR [United Nations Institute for Training and Research] to locate the North American center for its local authorities training program called CIFAl, in Atlanta. The agreement was signed in September last year.

There are a number of really interesting conferences in this regard that are going to be coming up in Atlanta. I’m especially pleased about the conference on water issues that the mayor specifically asked Mr. Axel Leblois, the executive director of CIFAL Atlanta to plan. In her travels throughout Latin America while promoting the FTAA secretariat and Atlanta, Mayor Franklin had a chance to meet with mayors, trade ministers and other city officials and found that in many places that we went water was an issue. We have by no means solved the problem but we are in a much better position now than a year ago to meet EPA requirements in terms of fixing the infrastructure to make sure that people have clean drinking water. We realized we have a lot to share from these experiences.

Along those lines, we had an excellent meeting with the World Bank that Mr. Leblois set up for us. Mayor Franklin may be the first U.S. Mayor to open a dialogue with the World Bank. Historically the World Bank has not interacted with mayors, certainly not U.S. mayors – they deal with countries. But now the World Bank has a new urban unit and a program called the Cities Alliance. The World Bank realized that they don’t interact with cities. But when you talk about development, water systems, infrastructure, a lot of times this happens at the municipal level.

Now that we have CIFAL Atlanta that will be serving the Western Hemisphere – the World Bank certainly does a lot of development projects in those countries especially in Latin America. So the purpose of our meeting was to open a dialogue with the World Bank to see if they will partner with us through CIFAL. And there may be some other things that we may be able to do through the World Bank on behalf of our neighbors in the hemisphere because of CIFAL as well as some of our Sister City partners. The World Bank is doing some major work in Cotonou in Benin, one of our Sister Cities. So of course we will lend any support that might be needed.

As you can see, so much is opening up. Atlanta is a unique place – the trend was set by Mayor Jackson and, of course, followed by Ambassador Andrew Young who brought to the city his very rich experience in diplomacy and world affairs. In my conversations with the World Bank officials, Atlanta is seen as having some very unique characteristics, which make us a city of interest to act as a partner to development projects in various places in the world.

We have been trying to keep that momentum going. We have CARE USA headquartered here; we have the Carter Center and the King Center. We have the academic community such as Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Emory University and the Atlanta University Center. The fact that we have the presence of such world-renowned institutions draws people to us. People especially those who have come from places where human rights have been abused are really drawn to Atlanta because of the city’s reputation and experience in peaceful reconciliation. It creates a unique environment that no other city has. I think Atlanta’s global stature is increasing and we have to make the most of the opportunities we have and support the NGO’s and venerable institutions that are here in order to continue to grow in this direction.

We have a mayor who wants to get things done. It’s wonderful working for her. She’s very knowledgeable, she's a great role model, she’s a thinker, she’s a quick study and she’s engaging. I feel fortunate to have been chosen to be in this position. So all this is very exciting. There are a lot of things on my plate and these are opportunities that we just absolutely have to pursue.

GlobalAtlanta: It seems that Atlanta has a lot to share internationally, as some of these local issues such as water appear to be global issues.

Ms. McLeveighn: Absolutely. The beauty of working in municipal government is just that – real service delivery occurs at the local level. The federal government doesn’t do it and the state government doesn’t do it. It’s the city that does it. When it comes to water, solid waste and public safety, police, fire - the things that make peoples lives safe and livable – that is usually in the realm of the municipality. And cities all over the world face the same issues.

We may start out thinking that our set of problems are just very parochial but then we find out that mayors in hundreds of other countries face the same issues. What better way to propel our globalization as a city than to share our best practices and to learn from other municipalities? Clearly not everything is going to be transferable but where there is a practice or program that is replicable even with certain modifications, we can always benefit from that type of sharing.

GlobalAtlanta: You were also in Germany last year attending a program on urban development. What are some of those implications for Atlanta?

Ms. McLeveighn: I went to Germany to take part in a program called Soziale Stadt – the Social City – there's a lot of information to share in that regard. I went to Berlin, Hamburg and Lower Saxony. The purpose of the program was to study how Germany is dealing with the integration of what they used to call guest workers, their ethnic communities, into the larger society. It’s a very different situation than what Atlanta has – although as Atlanta becomes more diverse ethnically, there's a lot to be learnt from what is being done in Germany and how responsibility for these programs is shared at the municipal, state and federal level.

It was a very comprehensive program. For example we looked at redevelopment of housing that had deteriorated in East Germany. What are some of the best way’s to keep people from being isolated in these enclaves which keep them from learning the language and becoming acclimated to customs and practices in Germany. Ultimately those are the things that prevent people from getting lucrative jobs.

The group I was in had 14 people from 13 different countries. I was the only person from the United States. I profusely thanked the German consulate for making it possible for me to go. It was a wonderful experience.

GlobalAtlanta: Finally, can you update us on the latest progress regarding the city’s efforts to locate the Free Trade Area of the Americas secretariat in Atlanta?

Ms. McLeveighn: In my understanding things are in a holding pattern right now. We went into the process on the assumption that negotiations would have been concluded by now and, of course, they are not. Clearly the mayor and the city still see Atlanta as the best candidate and we stay the course. We still support the effort and we would love to see it happen and to see it happen here. The process seems to have slowed down a bit but we will stay the course.

Source: Sebastian Mathews for GlobalAtlanta | © 2004 GlobalAtlanta. All Rights Reserved