Vietnam always attaches importance to developing its relations with French-speaking countries, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan has said.

At a reception for Minister Delegate for French-speaking Communities Yamina Benguigui in Hanoi on October 18, the Vice President stated that Vietnam ’s participation in the Francophone community is to realise its foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of relations and active international integration.

The Francophone community serves as a channel for Vietnam to boost all-around ties with its member countries, especially France and French-speaking African nations, she added.

The Vietnamese leader affirmed that Vietnam supports the International Organisation of Francophone (OIF)’s continued efforts to promote activities in such fields as politics, education, culture and development.

Vietnam is pleased with the Francophone community’s greater attention to economic cooperation, especially the upcoming adoption of the “Francophone Economic Strategy” at its 15th summit scheduled for late 2014 in Senegal , she said.

Appreciating France ’s important role in and contributions to building the Francophone community and promoting its activities in the Asia-Pacific region and Vietnam in particular, Vice President Doan expressed her belief that France will continue promoting its role in Francophone activities and contribute more to the development of the region.

For her part, Minister Yamina Benguigui said that Vietnam, as an active member of the OIF, has seriously and actively implemented its duties and commitments to the community, including the promotion of the French language teaching.

Vietnam has been carrying out a number of programmes and projects to boost the teaching and speaking of French in the Southeast Asian region and train Vietnamese diplomats and civil servants in the language.

She added that her organisation is implementing a French teaching programme in many countries, including Vietnam.-VNA