Le Monde, the leading newspaper in France, recently published an extensive profile of the Lehigh Valley economy, highlighting its growth and diversification in recent decades. 
Reporter Arnaud Leparmentier spent two days in the Lehigh Valley in May touring businesses and interviewing executives and community leaders.
The article tells how the region has built a diversified, innovative, $50 billion economy that is drawing international companies and is a leader in advanced manufacturing, including semiconductors, food and beverages, and vaccines and critical medical equipment.
“The revival of this part of the country is crucial to the future of America,” said the Le Monde article, which explains how the Lehigh Valley is growing in population, driven by a desirable quality of life.
Leparmentier had a one-on-one interview with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro during the Governor’s visit to Allentown to announce funding to accelerate the redevelopment of an industrial property. Shapiro is prioritizing economic development and creating strategies to make Pennsylvania more competitive.
“My goal is to create a Pennsylvania where everyone has the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed,” Shapiro said in the article, which was published in July.
Leparmentier also met with Julien Sauvagnargues, President & CEO of Olympus Corp. of the Americas, which is headquartered in the Lehigh Valley.
“The people of Lehigh Valley do good work. It's a good example of cooperation between the private and public sectors,” Sauvagnargues, a former member of the Board of Directors of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC), said in the article.
Interviews also were conducted with leaders at Infinera, one of the region’s semiconductor companies; OraSure, a home-grown international biopharma company that recently expanded; Factory LLC, a food industry accelerator at a former Bethlehem Steel facility; and Travaglini, an Italian company that designs equipment to cure meats and other delicacies.
Leparmentier interviewed Don Cunningham, President and CEO of LVEDC, and toured the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, led by Executive Director Andria Zaia.
Le Monde has a monthly online readership of 25 million and its daily print newspaper has a circulation of about 480,000.
Various international media have visited the Lehigh Valley in the past year, drawn by its story of economic renaissance, its dedication to workforce development, and its growth in international commerce.
LVEDC staff recently were interviewed by WELT, a German publication owned by the same company that publishes Politico and Business Insider, and Le Temps, a Swiss French-language daily newspaper.
Other foreign media outlets that have visited the Lehigh Valley to report on its growing economy in the past year include Sky News from the United Kingdom and WirschaftsWoche and Neue Zürcher Zeitung from Germany.