NEW ORLEANS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Friday in Louisiana, the American point out most intently aligned traditionally with his nation, to celebrate their longstanding cultural ties and focus on vitality policy and local weather modify.

Macron met with political leaders and strolled by means of New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, the heart of the town, stopping to converse and shake arms with bystanders. He paused subsequent to a road brass band and nodded and clapped as they played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Macron also reported he met with billionaire Elon Musk for what he termed a “clear and sincere discussion” about Twitter, days right after a major European Union official warned the social media platform’s new proprietor that the business should do a lot more to shield end users from unsafe material.

The go to is the initially by a French president considering that Valery Giscard d’Estaing traveled to Lafayette and New Orleans in 1976. The only other French president to stop by Louisiana was Charles de Gaulle in 1960.

Macron’s itinerary started out at Jackson Square. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell walked him to the Historic New Orleans Assortment wherever Macron discussed local weather adjust impacts with Gov. John Bel Edwards. The French president also achieved with power company associates.

“This condition check out allows us to set France, and with France Europe, at the coronary heart of the American agenda. That’s a good detail,” Macron instructed journalists in French, in accordance to a translation from pool reporters.

Macron advised Edwards he was overcome by the reception in the town.

“What I think this signifies is a specific romantic relationship we have with France. It is historical and cultural,” Edwards claimed.

Edwards, a Democrat, has been outspoken about the perils of weather transform in a point out exactly where tens of hundreds of positions are tied to the oil and gas industry. This would make the cease to New Orleans “very emblematic” of local climate-associated initiatives, French officials claimed.

For the duration of a short assembly in the presence of Macron, the governor and the Minister for Europe and International Affairs, Catherine Colonna, signed a memorandum of being familiar with “to further grow and boost the potent cultural connections among France and Louisiana in the areas of the overall economy, thoroughly clean electrical power and the atmosphere,” Edwards’ office environment claimed.

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“Like me, President Macron thinks that climate transform is true,” Edwards mentioned.

The governor’s place of work said the settlement formally makes a Louisiana-based position for a French complex professional on the transition to thoroughly clean strength.

All through Macron’s check out to Washington on Thursday, he and President Joe Biden launched a joint statement expressing “their deep issue with regards to the escalating influence of weather adjust and character loss” and claimed they “intend to keep on to galvanize domestic and worldwide motion to tackle it.”

On Friday evening Macron posted a photo on Twitter of his come upon with Musk, the two males sitting down throughout from each individual other at a table in an empty area. He claimed he and the Tesla CEO talked over “future environmentally friendly industrial jobs,” and also the social media system.

“Transparent user procedures, significant reinforcement of information moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be produced by Twitter to comply with European regulations,” the president said in 1 of a collection of tweets.

Earlier this week Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for electronic plan, informed Musk that Twitter will have to significantly improve efforts to comply with new policies identified as the Digital Services Act that consider outcome up coming 12 months, or likely encounter hefty fines or even a ban in the continental bloc.

Louisiana is named for Louis XIV, the famous Sun King who dominated France for 72 many years starting in 1643. New Orleans is the place the Louisiana Invest in was finalized. The offer transferred the Louisiana Territory, which encompassed substantially of what is today the central United States, from France to the U.S. in 1803.

Macron’s New Orleans take a look at incorporated a quit with very first girl Brigitte Macron at the Cabildo, where by ceremonies marking the land transfer ended up held.

Macron was also scheduled to stop by the New Orleans Museum of Art and dine downtown before departing.

Holding the U.S. and French flags, Christiane Geisler, who was born in France and moved to Louisiana 6 yrs ago, was a person of the spectators who stood in the streets hoping to see the president Friday. She was thrilled that she got to shake Macron’s hand and have a short discussion with him in French.

“For me, when I moved right here, it had a great emotion of French,” Geisler mentioned.

The French Quarter, 13 blocks long and approximately six wide, was to start with settled in the 1700s and was afterwards ravaged two times by fireplace. It finest known as a vacationer place and professional district wherever a reimagined French Sector, high-quality eating places, antique shops and artwork galleries coexist together with T-shirt stores, strip joints and bars blasting are living audio by protect bands.

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Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.