YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The holding of the La Francophonie summit in Armenia shows that despite the political changes the stability has been maintained, and the state system functioned undisrupted, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ruben Rubinyan said during parliamentary debates on declaring the summit days as non-working days in response to a question from Republican lawmaker Samvel Farmanyan.

Farmanyan asked about the expected results of the summit.

“I can say that it is an important phase for Armenia, also given the latest political changes. It is very important that now Armenia is re-[interacting] with foreign friends and partners. And in this context it is important for us to once again get to know our partners, and the bilateral meetings will be aimed for this. This shows that despite the political changes stability has been maintained in Armenia and the state system of Armenia has functioned uninterruptedly. Armenia’s political system is quite accomplished in order for this kind of a large event to take place and be duly organized,” Rubinyan said.

Rubinyan said that the summit is also a unique chance for Armenia to encourage its ties with African states. “Holding an event of this volume will definitely increase Armenia’s international reputation,” he said.

Yerevan is hosting the XVII International Organisation of La Francophonie summit in 2018.  

The events are planned from October 7 to October 12, with the summit itself scheduled for the final two days.  

Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008.

The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted by the French language. The French language and its humanist values represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation of La Francophonie is based.

The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274 million French speakers.

IOF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the French language, peace and sustainable development.

IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones).

The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional offices (West Africa ; Central Africa and Indian Ocean ; Asia-Pacific) located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi (Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in Port-au-Prince (Haiti).

Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the programs decided at the Summits. The four direct operators are : the Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of Alexandria.

58 Member States and Governments :
Albania, Principality of Andorra, Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, , Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco, Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

26 Observers :
Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada-Ontario, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan