Francophonie Festival begins in Bangladesh Thursday

French-speaking countries are set to celebrate their annual ‘Francophonie Festival’ in Bangladesh, highlighting the essence of the language and culture that unite them.

Envoys of Morocco, Vietnam, Qatar, France, Switzerland, Egypt and Canada in a joint press briefing on Tuesday announced that music, film, poetry, debates, and dance would dominate the 11-day celebration beginning Mar 12.

Countries where either French is an official language or a large part of the population speaks French celebrate the festival, even if those countries do not belong to the International Organisation of La Francophonie.

“In fact, Francophonie is above all a community of countries sharing values and ideals”, French Ambassador in Dhaka Sophie Aubert said.

“And this is an open community, with a desire to cooperate closely, in order to benefit from the experience of all the members of the community, for the welfare of their citizens,” she said.

The events will take place in the two Alliances Francaises of Dhaka and Chittagong and the International French School of Dhaka.

A guided tour in old Dhaka with French language will also be organised before the conclusion of the celebration on Mar 22.

The theme of this year is “French, a hospitable language”.

“Francophonie is not only a shared language but a vehicle for values of humanism, liberty, equality, and fraternity,” said Chargé d’affaire of Morocco Said Kasmi.

He said this year they would highlight these values and their strong will to defend terrorism and extremism which were posing a threat to the entire world.

With 274 million people speak French, it is the sixth most spoken and the second learned language in the world. It is the official language of 32 countries.

The French Ministry for Culture and Communication started the celebration of Francophonie week in 1995.

Every year on March 20, the International Francophonie Day is being celebrated to celebrate the language and its values. Celebrations begin much ahead of the day.

The envoys said this celebration in Bangladesh would also strengthen the cultural links with Bangladesh

Canadian High Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée said few peoples understand “the importance of language and culture for a nation as keenly as Bangladeshis” as international mother language day was an initiative of Bangladesh.

“In Canada, we understand that an appreciation for one’s own language and culture is the foundation of a strong country,” he said.

The former Governor General of Canada Michaelle Jean became Secretary General for the Francophonie organisation in Jan this year as the first woman secretary general, he said.

La Francophonie has 80 member countries that adopted a ‘Dakar Declaration’ in its last summit in Senegal in Nov last year.

The declaration committed to promote “sustainable, balanced, and inclusive development in order to achieve greater social cohesion”.

Switzerland’s deputy head of mission Caroline Trautweiler said her country’s “priorities within La Francophonie are democracy, peace and human rights as well as promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity”.

The opening ceremony will be held at Chittagong Alliance Francaise on March 12.

Ambassador of Egypt Mahmood Ezzat and Ambassador of Vietnam Nguyen Quang Thuc were present at the press briefing.