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| Ambassador Duong Van Quang in an interview with VNA reporters (Photo: VNA) |
(VOVworld) - French-speaking nations will open their 14th biennial summit in Kinshasa, Congo, on Saturday. The 56-nation International Organisation of Francophonie, IOF, will focus on ways to boost cooperation in the bloc. Vietnam was one of the founders of the French-speaking community when it signed a 1970 treaty to establish the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation in Niger. Since then Vietnam has participated in all activities of the community and in 1997 hosted the 7th summit in Hanoi. Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Van Quang to the Francophone Organisation in France says ‘In some countries, French is the mother tongue and for some African countries, French is the administrative language so participation in Francophonie is normal for them. But in Vietnam French is only a foreign language, although Vietnam has been much influenced by French culture, language, and education. The French language in Vietnam should be recognized in a different way – the number of people to use the French, influences of the French culture in Vietnam, exchanges between the Vietnamese and French cultures, and mutual influences of these cultures. Vietnam always attaches importance to teaching French. As a member of Francophonie, Vietnam has fully implemented its duties to the organization. The summit is a forum for developing bilateral relations with countries in Europe, North America, and Africa and cooperation in economics, culture, and education with other members.’
With the African countries, Vietnam has been involved in compiling a document called “Francophone elements in the process of implementing tripartite cooperation”, which will be adopted at this summit.
Thuy Van, VOV correspondent in France