Vietnam to play a more active role in Francophone

Vietnam will enhance its engagement in Francophone activities in line with the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralisation of international relations, and being a reliable and responsible member of the international community.
Vietnam will enhance its engagement in Francophone activities in linewith the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance,diversification and multilateralisation of international relations, andbeing a reliable and responsible member of the international community.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh madethe commitment at his Hanoi talks with Secretary General of theInternational Francophone Organisation (OIF) Abdou Diouf on March 13.Abdou Diouf is on an official visit to Vietnam from March 12-15.

At the meeting, Minh shared his views on major political andcooperative issues of the Francophone community, especially thepreparations for the 15th Francophone Summit scheduled for November2014 in Dakar, Senegal.

He also mentioned the diversificationof culture and languages as well as the mobilisation of necessaryresources for the OIF’s cooperation in politics, economics, culturalaffairs and education.

The Vietnamese official suggested theFrench-speaking community place more importance to collaboration inpoverty reduction, the implementation of Millennium Development Goalsand sustainable development, reasoning they are highest priorities ofdeveloping countries.

He used the occasion to table proposalsto strengthen the partnership between Vietnam and the OIF, particularlyin education and training and the teaching of French language in thecountry.

In reply, Abdou Diouf reviewed the seventhFrancophone Summit in Hanoi in 1997 and spoken highly of the country’ssocio-economic achievements over the past years.

Highly valuingthe country’s active contributions to the Francophone community, theOIF Secretary General pledged to make effort to ensure the balance inFrancophone activities.

He called on Vietnam to continuebringing into full play its role as a bridge for the organisation andthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Appraisingthe country’s upcoming participation in the UN peacekeeping mission,Abdou Diouf affirmed his support to help the country in this field.

Later on the day, the pair witnessed the signing of a memorandum ofunderstanding on the OIF’s assistance to activities of the Centre forFrench language research and cooperation in Asia-Pacific under theDiplomatic Academy of Vietnam.-VNA

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