Paris [France], November 7: At the close of the 44th Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie (CMF), held in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 4 and 5 November 2023, France was awarded the presidency of the CMF by Tunisia for the next two years, in its capacity as host country of the XIXth Summit of La Francophonie, to be held in October 2024.
The French delegation in Yaounde was led by the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna.
Alongside the Secretary General of La Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo, the Secretary of State for Development, La Francophonie and International Partnerships, ChrysoulaZacharopoulou, presented the challenges of this forthcoming Summit to the member states and governments of the International Organisation of La Francophonie.
The Francophonie Summit will open on 4 October 2024 at the Citeinternationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterets, a venue entirely dedicated to the French language and Francophone cultures, inaugurated on 30 October by the President of the Republic, Mr Emmanuel Macron. The Summit will continue in Paris on 5 October 2024.
The XIXth Summit of La Francophonie will be a major event, in diplomatic, political, economic and cultural terms, with the French language as a link. In France, it will be one of the international highlights of 2024 with the organisation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
France and the OIF have the ambition to promote a Francophonie at the service of its peoples, and to demonstrate its dynamics and opportunities.
France and the OIF have agreed that creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the diversity of the French-speaking world will be placed at the heart of the event. The French-speaking world is a formidable vector for intellectual debate, creativity and jobs, and the French-speaking world is a source of talent and opportunities of which we should be proud.
The chosen theme will invite everyone to "Create, innovate and undertake in French".
To illustrate this theme, France has decided to organise a Festival de la Francophonie on the fringes of the Summit, in order to promote a dynamic Francophonie among the French people and the entire French-speaking community. This Festival, built in dialogue with the OIF, its Member States and civil society, will contribute to the perception of an open, vibrant, multilingual, contemporary, useful and attractive Francophonie. It will showcase the vitality of the French-speaking cultural, academic, scientific and entrepreneurial scenes, and will cover the whole of mainland France and the French overseas territories, as well as online and throughout the French-speaking world.
In Paris, it will include a Village de la Francophonie, organised jointly with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and its member states and governments taking part in the Summit.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
