Testimony of Cynthia Stroum Ambassador-Designate to The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Notes: This text in black font is the original testimony. We all are watching these testimonies, and don't we have to admit, the Ambassador designate Cynthia Stroum has a lot of knowledge about Luxembourg, unlike her famous predecessor, Perle Mesta, who asked the President: "Hey, Boss, where the heck is Luxembourg?" (Liechtenburg in Irving Berlin's fiction "Call Me Madam"). Though I must add some comments (in red in the text), this is all meant to be helpful to have the new Ambassador totally informed and comfortable in our midst. Senators, please don't hesitate with your Yeah.

Here is the testimony:

Testimony of Cynthia Stroum

Ambassador-Designate to

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

October 8, 2009

Madam Chair and Members of the Committee: Good Afternoon.

Thank you for considering my nomination to be the next Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. I am honored to appear before you today. If confirmed, I look forward to working closely with this Committee to ensure the strong relationship between the United States and Luxembourg continues. I am especially grateful to Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell for their years of friendship and support.

I would like to introduce and publicly thank the light of my life – my daughter, Courtney – who has supported me through this entire process. I want also to express my deepest gratitude to President Obama and Secretary Clinton for the trust and confidence they have placed in me with this nomination.

Every Ambassador needs to be skilled at different roles: ready to lead the Embassy, to clearly communicate strategic direction, to protect America’s interests and to reflect America’s values. With my broad range of experience in business and the arts coupled with my diverse background as an entrepreneur and civic leader, I believe I can serve in those roles with fresh enthusiasm, creativity and dedication.

I have been an angel investor in over twenty successful technology, biotechnology, and retail start-up companies. I come from Seattle – one of America’s greatest entrepreneurial cities – and I have worked closely with some of our country’s greatest technological innovators to transform ideas into results. My experience makes me uniquely qualified to recognize new opportunities and partnerships for American business in Luxembourg, which is poised to grow as a European hub of technology and e-commerce.

With success, comes responsibility. Community service has been an enduring legacy in my family. As a single mother, I raised my daughter and served my community by serving countless hours on non-profit boards. Over the last 30 years, I have been active in numerous civic and charitable activities covering many areas including medical research, education, theatre, ballet and public television, channeling my philanthropy through the two non-profit foundations that I established.

Since my father’s devastating diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and death in 2001, I have been most deeply passionate about cancer research. I am the Founding Chairman of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the leading U.S. organization working to advance research, support patients and create hope for the pancreatic cancer community.

In the last year, the Government of Luxembourg has also been active in cancer research, implementing an unprecedented international collaboration with three of the most prominent biomedical science leaders in the United States (two of which are based in Seattle). This strategic partnership focuses on systems biology, molecular diagnostics and creation of the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg for the collection, storage, processing and distribution of biological specimens and the data that accompany them. Such biobanking plays a critical role in biomedical research, particularly cancer research. This cutting edge work is a terrific example of the kind of public/private partnerships I will work to foster between our two countries.

There is a deep reservoir of goodwill between the United States and Luxembourg. As a small but important European Union member country – in fact, one of the six founding members of the EU’s predecessor organization (the European Economic Community) – Luxembourg continues to play an active role in the EU and is an important partner in advancing our European agenda. And our ability to work with Europe is key to advancing our agenda in many other parts of the world.

Despite its small army and police force, Luxembourg deploys troops abroad in several multilateral missions. Luxembourg is an active member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In fact, Luxembourg was one of NATO’s founding members. The Luxembourg military has a current strength of approximately 1,100 professional soldiers, enlisted recruits and civilians. It has supported NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan continuously since 2003 with a contingent of nearly a dozen troops embedded with Belgian forces at the airport in Kabul. Luxembourg has also participated in peacekeeping and civilian missions in the Balkans, Lebanon, and Africa.

As a former Luxembourg soldier, I was startled about that candid revelation of classified material, such as Luxembourg forces, all 12 of them, in Afghanistan. This is so secret that it is even covered by Luxembourg banking secrecy.

I was years ago a guest at a luncheon at the Kremlin. Towards the end of the luncheon, the Soviet Prime Minister who had spent his time talking to his guests of honor quite thoughtfully became aware that he hadn't yet talked to me and said: "Colonel, when we are talking Luxembourg Armed Forces, how many men are we talking about?" My answer, which under those circumstances cannot be refused but should reveal nothing, that answer was: "Mister Prime Minister, do you want that number with or without the band?" He said: "Does that make a big difference?" And I only disclosed that at a comparable percentage, the Soviet Armed Forces would have a band of 500,000.

I believe they made complicated calculations to find out that mysterious number. I don't know what their chief mathematician got wrong, but a few months later the Empire collapsed and the Cold War was won. I know, history rewrites itself.

If confirmed, I plan to build on this record to encourage further engagement by Luxembourg on the world stage through continued contributions to important international missions such as these. Our bilateral relationship with Luxembourg is overwhelmingly positive, but I will not take that for granted. I will work to sustain and strengthen that partnership so that Luxembourg continues to be a dependable ally and partner of the United States.

Luxembourg’s financial services and banking sector is sophisticated and well-regulated. I'm sure they appreciate that one. Banking is the largest sector in the Luxembourg economy and has specialized in cross-border fund administration. As Luxembourg's domestic market is relatively small, the country's financial center is predominantly international. Overall, we have seen good cooperation from Luxembourg to counter money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing. Luxembourg committed to international standards on exchange of information in March 2009 and signed an agreement in May 2009 with the United States to amend the existing U.S.-Luxembourg income tax treaty to provide for full exchange of information for tax purposes.

On July 8, 2009, Luxembourg was the first country to be removed from the OECD “grey list” of non-cooperative jurisdictions concerning internationally-agreed tax standards and banking secrecy. Showing its commitment to provide for the full exchange of tax information, Luxembourg has signed over 12 such agreements or amendments and has won praise from the OECD Secretary General for being the only country to do so in less than five months. Yep, Gold Medal! If confirmed, I will encourage Luxembourg to continue to demonstrate serious efforts to increase the transparency of its banking system in cooperation with the international community. There you go and I'll help. Psst! Did you know what is in those bills still to come before Congress, where Luxembourg is named together with really bad jurisdictions?

To build upon the already strong foundation of goodwill between our two countries, an essential part of my public diplomacy strategy will be building strong people-to-people ties. This includes reaching out to a new generation of youth who did not bear witness to the devastating battles fought during World War II.

Building relationships for the long term is essential. In her recent speech to the Council of Foreign Relations, Secretary Clinton said we want to “reach out beyond governments, because we believe partnerships with people play a critical role in our 21st century statecraft.” Should I be confirmed, I would plan to actively engage in American Smart Power using the full range of public diplomacy programs available, using exciting new technology and media to reach out to Luxembourg’s youth and connect younger audiences in both countries. They'll love it.

Last, but certainly not least, there are approximately 3,000 Americans living in Luxembourg and many who visit every year. If confirmed, I would make my highest priority always the welfare and safety of our American citizens overseas and ensure that the Embassy responds to their needs.

Oh no! You didn't mention the Luxembourg American Cultural Society headquartered in Wisconsin! Let's catch up on that one: before Luxembourg nowadays became poor and has to borrow money (history repeats itself, remember Call me Madam), it was very rich. But only for 50 years. Before being very rich, it was already very poor, and people emigrated to the United States. One third of the population. Which has as a result that probably about 350,000 descendants of Luxembourg immigrants live in Chicago and Wisconsin, Minnesota and neighboring States. Not negligible at a time when elections are won with a dozen votes. But we'll bring you up to speed on all that, and maybe you'll be able to attend next year's official inauguration of the Luxembourg American Cultural Center in Belgium, Wisconsin?

Madam Chair, Members of the Committee, if confirmed, it will be my greatest honor to represent the United States in Luxembourg. Thank you for your consideration. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.