Lebanese president departs Beirut for Yerevan XVII La Francophonie summit

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun and First Lady Nadia Chami Aoun left Beirut for Armenia at the head of an official delegation, to participate in the 17th Francophone Summit held in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on October 11 and 12, the National News Agency of Lebanon reported.

The accompanying official delegation includes caretaker Ministers Ghattas Khoury and Avedis Guidanian. Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gebran Bassil, will be joining the delegation later, as well as a number of ambassadors and diplomats.

The summit will take place October 11-12 at Yerevan’s Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex.

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) ...