The Asia-Pacific office of the International Francophonie Organization (OIF) held a press briefing in Hanoi on March 14 to introduce activities, marking International Francophonie Day (March 20).

Speaking at the press briefing, Christian Saelens, head of the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation said there will be a wide range of activities to mark International Francophonie Day.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organize 19 events, in addition to a main ceremony in Hanoi, such as a short-story writing contest, story- telling in French language, poem translating contest, a meeting between IBM, AXA and students who speak French in Hanoi, a Francophonie business seminar and a regional seminar on challenges facing Asian countries in international trade negotiations on cultural assets and services.

Mr Saelens stressed that year 2007 will be very important as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions will come into effect as from March 18. The event will meet aspirations towards joining diversified cultural and language-related activities of most countries in the world.

Francophone is a bridge that helps connect 200 million French-speaking people in the world, including 180,000 Vietnamese people learning French in Vietnam.

Source: VOV