Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) Louise Mushikiwabo (left) and Director of the Institute of Cultural Exchange with France (IDECAF) in a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Ngoc Lan on March 23. (Photo: VNA)Welcoming Mushikiwabo, IDECAF Director Nguyen Ngoc Lan saidfounded 40 years ago, the institute has been acting as a bridge to bring Frenchcultures and language closer to HCM City’s citizens and introduce Vietnameseculture to the Francophone community and foreign expats in the city.
Through its “French-speaking Job and Internship Space,”IDECAF has played a part in developing French-speaking workforce and connectingFrench learning students with the network of enterprises from the Francophonecountries like France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada in HCM City and southernprovinces.
It also serves as an advisory body for the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and the municipal People’s Committee in diplomacy and culturalpolicies, she said. The director hoped to receive further support from the OIF in thecoming time, for example, enabling IDECAF to join more activities ofOIF-operated French-speaking cultural centres around the globe.
The OIF Secretary-General, for her part,highly spoke of the diversity of activities hosted by IDECAF to promote the French languageand the Francophone community among local people, particularly the youth.
Mushikiwabo also congratulated IDECAF on its achievements over thepast four decades, saying a model like IDECAF must be multiplied in otherFrench-speaking countries. She pledged to provide all possible conditions forIDECAF to heighten its role within the OIF.
On the previous day, the OIF leader attended a Francophonebusiness forum in HCM City and paid a courtesy call to the city’s leaders./.
VNA
