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Did you know that Indianapolis has nine sister cities, including Taipei in Taiwan, Cologne in Germany and Campinas in Brazil?
What about the state of Indiana? Well, the Hoosiers got a new regional relative—a part of the United Kingdom called the Thames Estuary.
It’s where the River Thames meets the North Sea in the southeastern end of the country. It’s a major shipping route, with thousands of oil tankers and container ships. At one end is the global city of London, at the other the white cliffs of the Kent coast.
On either side of the banks and above the picturesque beaches, salt marshes and mudflats are hard-working and friendly towns, many of which haven’t benefited from the boom time in London. But that’s changing—we have exciting plans for a new bridge, a freeport and harnessing the power of hydrogen energy.
My job is to bring together government, innovators and investors, businesses and communities.
And not just at home.
We can’t make this happen without looking further afield.
In May 2022 at the Indiana Global Economic Summit, the U.K. and Indiana signed the U.K.’s first state-level trade and economic development agreement.
The memorandum of understanding (like a mini trade deal) aims to strengthen economic development across Indiana and the U.K., focusing on clean energy and sustainability and prioritizing building economies of the future. Last month, I came to Indiana—which has so much in common with the Thames Estuary—to bring that important piece of paper to life.
I visited Burns Harbor to understand where Indiana’s international ports sit within the wider transport infrastructure. Burns Harbor handles mind-boggling volumes of freight.
We have so much to learn from each other on ports—including how ports can be a catalyst of the wider regeneration of towns—and I look forward to welcoming a delegation from Indiana to the Thames Estuary soon to explore how the Ports of Indiana, U.S. and our own ports (including the Thames Freeport and Port Ramsgate) can work together.
I also believe we can work together on green growth and energy, especially hydrogen. I discovered on my trip that you’re wrestling with the challenges that a transition to a decarbonized transport network throws up. And—just like Thames Estuary—you want to make sure you make the most of vast opportunities for green growth, especially those that new technologies like hydrogen are starting to open up.
It was great to catch up with the Green Energy Team at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to compare notes and find new ways to learn and work with each other to test practical solutions.
Finally, we have a lot to share around social inclusion and regeneration. There are challenges here, no doubt, but also many incredible social projects.
Everywhere I’ve been—from the University of Notre Dame to White River State Park to Victory Field—I’ve found politicians, policy academics and businesspeople excited at the prospect of working together and helping both Indiana and the Thames Estuary.
This is just the start, and I hope that, over the coming years, the good people of Indiana will get to know the Thames Estuary and vice versa—because we’re going to do great things together.•
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Kate Willard OBE is the United Kingdom government’s envoy for the region.
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