Vietnam affirms highest-level commitment to Francophone community’s development
VOV.VN - Senior Vietnamese leaders have constantly engaged in Francophonie Summits for the past three decades, showing the country's commitment to co-operating with the International Organisation of La Francophone (OIF) and its member countries, Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang has said.
In a recent media interview given in Paris ahead of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s attendance at the forthcoming 19th Francophonie Summit and his official visit to France, the diplomat stated that the presence of the top Vietnamese leader at the summit for the first time represents a new milestone as it affirms the nation's highest-level commitment to the development of the Francophone community.
This is along with demonstrating its efforts to promote the image and presence of the Francophone community as part of the Asia-Pacific region. This also indicates the country’s willingness to serve as a bridge in which to strengthen the relationship that exists between the Francophone community and the region, thereby further elevating both national and community standing on the international stage.
According to him, this high-level of diplomatic activity will play an important role in carrying out the external policy of multilateralisation and diversification, as well as active international integration, attaching importance to multilateralism whilst demonstrating Vietnam's active and responsible membership in the international community in general and in the Francophone community in particular.
Through interactions and exchanges with leaders of the OIF and member countries, partners have acknowledged Vietnamese commitments and contributions to preparing for this summit, displaying their hope that based on the solid foundation that the OIF and Vietnam have built together, the nation and the Francophone community will continue to nurture and elevate their long-term and sustainable co-operation and partnership moving forward, stated Ambassador Thang.
Concerning the country’s role in the OIF, the diplomat stated that for years the Vietnamese side has both fully and effectively participated in most of the priority issues of the community, ranging from the planning of co-operation strategies to the promotion of reforms. As a result, it can be regarded as a key player and an important voice of the OIF in the Asia-Pacific region, which in turn is reflected through the fact that the nation has been repeatedly entrusted by member countries to hold important positions within the organisation.
In terms of French language teaching, it has performed numerous initiatives and projects supported by member countries, particularly France, Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland. Since 2014, the nation has proactively made voluntary contributions to the Francophone University Agency (AUF), thus helping to improve French language education at 47 Vietnamese universities which are AUF members.
As for economic co-operation, Vietnam was the country which initiated economic co-operation within the Francophonie community at the seventh Francophonie Summit held in 1997 in Hanoi. Serving as Chair of the OIF’s economic committee, it successfully co-ordinated the drafting of the Francophone Economic Development Strategy for the 2020 to 2025 period.
The nation was also the first stop of a Francophone business delegation in a string of activities to implement this strategy.
To step up collaboration between Vietnam and the OIF, Ambassador Thang stressed the need to create significant changes in key areas which meet the development needs of both the community and individual countries.
In this spirit, both sides should outline a comprehensive policy in which to guide co-operation toward developing member countries, whilst effectively combining this with the participation of developed one, the Vietnamese diplomat said.
