Lafayette (Louisiana – United States)

Lafayette is a city in the US state of Louisiana located along the Vermilion River. In the heart of Acadiana, 208 kilometres west of New Orleans, it is the centre of Cajun country and the capital of French-speaking Louisiana.

In 1968, Louisiana decided to ensure the survival of its French-speaking heritage and to revive the use of French in homes and schools.

This led to the creation of CODOFIL (Conseil pour le développement du français en Louisiane) in Lafayette, the capital of Acadiana, the francophone region of southern Louisiana. Codofil soon launched an appeal to several French-speaking countries to send teachers. Not only France, but also Quebec, Switzerland and Belgium responded.

Antoine Humblet, the Belgian Minister of Education at the time, was from Namur, as was Mariette Delahaut, the first director of Belgian teachers in Louisiana. It is therefore not surprising that strong ties were forged between Lafayette and the future capital of Wallonia.

As early as 1977, a first delegation from the Namur’s Municipal Youth Commission began working the foundations for a Friendship Charter between Namur and Lafayette, signed on 4 July 1979 by Burgomaster Louis Namèche and Lafayette Mayor Kenneth Bowen.

There are many exchanges between Namur and Lafayette, both on an institutional level (Francophonie, sustainable development, education, tourism, etc.) and on a human level (thanks to the Namur-Lafayette non-profit association).

An agreement was signed in 2013.

Lafayette is a member of the Vertech City Network and the AIMF.