By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A 2-year-old effort to bolster Cincinnati's French connection is about to become reality.

The effort by local business leaders to establish Cincinnati's French-American Trade Council as the 20th chapter of the French-American Chamber of Commerce should be approved soon following a meeting of the organization last week in Chicago.

"We should receive confirmation in a couple weeks," said Brigitte Cordier, executive director of the Cincinnati council, which has 94 corporate members.

The nonprofit organization, composed of more than 5,000 U.S. companies, is dedicated to promotion of French-American trade.

Cincinnati will join other major cities such as San Francisco, New York and Boston with chapters of the 118-year-old chamber.

"This means we're fully a member of the international organization," said attorney Joseph Dehner, executive vice president of the Cincinnati chapter.

Cincinnati's chamber designation comes at a time when political relations between the two countries are frayed because of France's nonsupport of the U.S. war against Iraq. But Dehner said the business and cultural ties between the two countries are deeper than political differences.

"Businesses will continue their relationships no matter what the political issues are," he said.

France is Cincinnati's largest single export market, totaling more than $1.5 billion annually. That's largely due to CFM International, GE Aircraft Engines' nearly 30-year-old jet engine partnership with Snecma of France.

The trade council says more than two dozen French companies are in Greater Cincinnati, employing 3,000.

The trade council holds its annual dinner Thursday at the Hilton Netherland Plaza downtown.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com