President attends Summit of French-speaking countries

The President attended the conference in the context of the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the Francophone Community continuing to consolidate and strengthen.

Today (November 25), President Tran Dai Quang led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the 16th Francophone Summit held in Antananarivo, Madagascar from November 26-27, 2016.

The Vietnamese delegation attended the conference in the context of the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the Francophone Community continuing to consolidate and strengthen.

From the initiative of the late President Léopold Sédar Senghor, in the early 60s, a movement began to arise to establish a Community of French-speaking countries with the aim of strengthening cultural, scientific and technical relations.

After that, many international organizations using French were established such as the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking countries; Association of universities using partly or completely French; Union of French-speaking Parliamentarians...

On March 20, 1970, the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT), now OIF, was established. Therefore, the Francophone Community took March 20 as the International Day of the Francophonie. However, in the early days, Francophone cooperation in the above organizations was still mainly professional and technical in nature, not meeting the aspirations of many countries who wanted an organization with political stature, a significant position and voice in international relations.

Therefore, in February 1986, at the initiative of the late French President Francois Mitterrand, the First Summit of French-speaking Countries was held in Paris with the participation of nearly 40 heads of state and government of French-speaking countries. This marked the official birth of the Francophone Community.

Since then, the Community has held 15 summits. It currently has a total of 80 members and observers from 5 continents, with approximately 220 million French speakers out of a total population of 890 million. Culture and language remain among the Community's top priorities. Protecting cultural and linguistic diversity has always been a consistent goal of the Community and is linked to the promotion of the French language in international forums.

Vietnam officially joined the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) - the predecessor of the International Organization of La Francophonie in 1979. Since then, Vietnam has participated in various organizations of the Francophone Community. In particular, Vietnam has actively participated in all the Summits of the Community since the first Conference held in February 1986 in Paris. This is the highest political institution of the Community.

Vietnam also made substantial contributions to various agencies and institutions of the Community, such as President of the Francophone Permanent Council (1996), President of the Francophone Ministerial Conference (1996-1997), President of the Francophone Summit (1997-1998), Vice President of the Francophone Parliamentary Body (2007-2009 and 2009-2011), Vice President of the Finance and Administration Committee (2009-2011 and 2011-2013) and President of the Cooperation and Program Committee (2013-2015) of the Francophone Permanent Council.

Vietnam always actively contributes to the consolidation and development of the Community in the direction of: protecting and enhancing Francophone solidarity - a precious tradition of the Community, ensuring harmony in the basic development orientations of the Community in the fields of politics, culture and economy.

By joining the Francophone Community, Vietnam has the opportunity to expand relations with many African countries, a region where our country has a relationship of solidarity and mutual support in the process of fighting for liberation and national independence, but there is still little economic cooperation, while at the same time exploiting technical assistance, human resource training and some aid from developed countries and organizations in the Community, which is beneficial for the cause of national construction.

In 1997, Vietnam hosted the 7th Francophonie Summit. This was the first and only Francophonie Summit to date held in Asia. The 7th Francophonie Summit marked a new stage in the development of the Community by elevating economic cooperation to a field of activity alongside the political and cultural-linguistic fields, amending the Francophonie Charter and electing for the first time a Secretary General of the Francophonie.

By organizing the Conference, Vietnam once again expressed its desire and commitment to contribute to the development of the Community. With Vietnam's positive contributions, the Francophone Community always considers Vietnam as a leading country in the Francophone sector in the region and an important member of the Community.

Over the past time, Vietnam has always actively contributed to the consolidation and development of the Community in the direction of: Protecting and enhancing Francophone solidarity - a precious tradition of the Community, ensuring harmony in the basic development orientations of the Community in the fields of politics, culture and economy. Vietnam advocates proactive, active and responsible participation in the activities of the Francophone Community.

On that basis, Vietnam has been and will synchronously deploy many activities in the direction of: Promoting information and propaganda about Vietnam's consistent and long-term policy towards the Francophone Community; Actively participating and contributing to the common activities of the Francophone Community for peace and development in member countries; Supporting and creating favorable conditions for Francophone organizations to develop cooperation activities in Vietnam.

Vietnam's policy towards the Francophone Community is consistent. Joining the Francophone Community aims to concretize Vietnam's foreign policy of multilateralization, diversification of international relations, proactive and active international integration, thereby contributing to peace, development and prosperity in the world./.

According to VOV