Vietnam is determined to further deepen its relations with the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF), as well as the latter’s members, though teaching French, affirmed Ambassador Duong Van Quang.

Ambassador Quang, who is head of the Vietnamese delegation to UNESCO, made the statement when talking with the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Paris following the screen of two Vietnamese films at the Francophone film festival in Paris from March 22-25.

Two Vietnamese films, including “Sinh Menh” (The Destiny in English or Le Destin in French) by director Dao Duy Phuc and screenwriter Nguyen Manh Tuan, and “Chuyen cua Pao” (The Story of Pao in English or L’Histoire de Pao in French) by director and screenwriter Ngo Quang Hai, had French subtitles.

The Vietnamese diplomat highlighted Vietnam’s initiative to organise the Francophone film festival in France in 2011, saying this was one of the activities in response to International Day of Francophonie (March 20).

Apart from politics, cultural and language cooperation is considered the “spine” of the organisation and besides English, French is also an important language in the international arena, Quang said.

He went on to say that Vietnam has also beefed up cooperation with OIF members such as tripartite cooperation in agriculture with African countries, with encouraging results.

Vietnam has coordinated with OIF to diversify its relations and the organisation has in return worked closely with Vietnam, which has an important role in international forums, including OIF, and in the Asia Paficic, the diplomat said.

Within the framework of the International Day of Francophonie, two Vietnamese students, Hoang Hai Anh and Tran Ngoc Anh, won prizes at the French language contest, “Golden words”. The annual contest was held by the International Francophone Press Union in association with the Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.-VNA