Hanoi celebrates International Francophonie Day
VOV.VN - The Foreign Ministry and the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) co-hosted a ceremony on March 19 in Hanoi to mark International Francophonie Day on March 20, running with the theme of “Francophone women, resilient women”.
As part of his address at the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang praised the Francophone community for their achievements over the past five decades in terms of peace, security, economy, culture, and sustainable development.
Deputy Minister Giang applauded the theme of this year’s event as it honours women who made contributions in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and to efforts of economic recovery in the post-pandemic period to bring lives back to the “new normal”.
Most notably, the nation has made remarkable contributions to the common development of the wider Francophone community, including upholding the role of French language in the UN and actively assisting Francophone countries to cope with the impact of the pandemic.
Moving forward, the country will continue to actively ramp up joint efforts as a means of enhancing solidarity and co-operation in the Francophone space for the purpose of peace, stability, and sustainable development globally, the Deputy Minister said.
Chekou Oussouman, chief representative for the Asia-Pacific region of the OIF, affirmed that Francophone solidarity has grown exponentially since the initial outbreak of COVID-19, with this year’s theme serving to honour the contributions of Francophone women.
He also reiterated the OIF’s commitments to bolstering economic co-operation in the Francophone space, including sending a Francophone economic working group to the nation for a trip ahead in October.
To mark the occasion, Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Paul Jensen, who is also chair of ambassadors of the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutions in Vietnam (GADIF), presented some prizes. The GADIF awards were given to Prof. Vo Van Chuong, Dean of the French Faculty at Can Tho University and Tran Cong Danh, manager of VPBank in Ho Chi Minh City.
The annual awards are designed as a means of honouring a range of outstanding individuals who made important contributions to popularising the French language in Vietnam, as well as improving ties between the country and the OIF.
Participants at the event were also treated to music performances staged by both French and Vietnamese artists.