Vietnam is ready to join concerted efforts to uphold the FrancophoneCommunity’s role in the international arena and solve the issuesconcerned by both international and Francophone communities.
Vietnamese Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan was speaking at theopening of the 13 th Francophone Summit in Montreux , Switzerland ,on October 23.
As many as 70 heads of state andgovernment from the Francophone Community member nations, includingFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy, Swiss President Doris Leuthard andCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and more than 2,000 delegatesattended the event.
With its tradition of peaceloving, Vietnam would continue to make positive, constructive andresponsible contributions to the harmonious development of theFrancophone Community, Doan said.
The vice statepresident stressed that the current context is posing a range of newchallenges to the international community such as food and energyinsecurity, adverse impacts of climate change and especially theeconomic and financial crisis – the worst in the past 70 years.
Therefore, Doan urged the Francophone Community to play a more activepart in dealing with these challenges, firstly in preventing andsettling conflicts.
The Francophone Community needsto pay due attention to the development interests of its member states,especially poor and developing countries, which want to receive morefavourable conditions in terms of economy and trade, transfer oftechnologies and assistance in fulfilling the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals, she added.
The 13 th summit takes place at atime when the International Organisation of Francophone (OIF) iscelebrating its 40 th founding anniversary and 10 years of implementingthe Bamaco declaration on democracy and human rights.
Themed “Challenges and future vision for the Francophone Community,”the summit is discussing a broad range of issues, includinginternational relations and the Francophone Community’s currentposition, challenges to sustainable development, food security andclimate change, and the teaching of French in the world.
In her speech delivered at the opening, Swiss President Doris Leuthardsaid the member nations are coping with global challenges such asenergy security, climate change, imbalanced biodiversity, poverty andsecurity.
Leuthard, who is also new President of theFrancophone Community, also emphasised the diversity in terms ofculture and language within the OIF, saying this is a valuable asset noany international organisation possesses.
TheFrancophone Summit is organised every two years, with the first held inFrance in 1986. Vietnam hosted the 7 th Francophone Summit in1997, during which former UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Gali waselected as the first Secretary General of the Francophone Community.
The Francophone Community now has 56 member nations and territories,along with 14 observer states. More than 200 million people speak Frenchin the world. In Vietnam , there are 470,000 persons using French./.
Vietnamese Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan was speaking at theopening of the 13 th Francophone Summit in Montreux , Switzerland ,on October 23.
As many as 70 heads of state andgovernment from the Francophone Community member nations, includingFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy, Swiss President Doris Leuthard andCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and more than 2,000 delegatesattended the event.
With its tradition of peaceloving, Vietnam would continue to make positive, constructive andresponsible contributions to the harmonious development of theFrancophone Community, Doan said.
The vice statepresident stressed that the current context is posing a range of newchallenges to the international community such as food and energyinsecurity, adverse impacts of climate change and especially theeconomic and financial crisis – the worst in the past 70 years.
Therefore, Doan urged the Francophone Community to play a more activepart in dealing with these challenges, firstly in preventing andsettling conflicts.
The Francophone Community needsto pay due attention to the development interests of its member states,especially poor and developing countries, which want to receive morefavourable conditions in terms of economy and trade, transfer oftechnologies and assistance in fulfilling the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals, she added.
The 13 th summit takes place at atime when the International Organisation of Francophone (OIF) iscelebrating its 40 th founding anniversary and 10 years of implementingthe Bamaco declaration on democracy and human rights.
Themed “Challenges and future vision for the Francophone Community,”the summit is discussing a broad range of issues, includinginternational relations and the Francophone Community’s currentposition, challenges to sustainable development, food security andclimate change, and the teaching of French in the world.
In her speech delivered at the opening, Swiss President Doris Leuthardsaid the member nations are coping with global challenges such asenergy security, climate change, imbalanced biodiversity, poverty andsecurity.
Leuthard, who is also new President of theFrancophone Community, also emphasised the diversity in terms ofculture and language within the OIF, saying this is a valuable asset noany international organisation possesses.
TheFrancophone Summit is organised every two years, with the first held inFrance in 1986. Vietnam hosted the 7 th Francophone Summit in1997, during which former UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Gali waselected as the first Secretary General of the Francophone Community.
The Francophone Community now has 56 member nations and territories,along with 14 observer states. More than 200 million people speak Frenchin the world. In Vietnam , there are 470,000 persons using French./.
