Francophonie – second meeting of the Joint France-Francophonie Committee (Paris, 4 December 2020)

Tomorrow Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State for Tourism, French Nationals Abroad and Francophonie, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, will co-chair the second meeting of the Joint France-Francophonie Committee with Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). This meeting, which will bring together all of France and the OIF’s institutional stakeholders and operators, will be held at the organization’s headquarters and as an audio conference.

The Joint Committee, which arose out of President Macron and the Secretary-General’s desire to strengthen cooperation between France and the OIF, met for the first time on July 13, 2019, at the Elysée. Regular thematic consultations have taken place that foster concrete progress on issues of common interest such as governance, education, and the French language and culture.

This meeting will assess the cooperation that has taken place and will define areas in which France and the OIF can work together in the future. They include flagship projects from President Macron’s plan to promote the French language and multilingualism such as the Cité Internationale de la Langue Française at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts and the Francophone Dictionary. French-language learning and teaching, and the promotion of French in international bodies, and especially European institutions, will also be on the agenda.

This meeting follows on from the Francophonie Ministerial Conference held in Paris via video conference on November 24 and 25, in which the minister of state participated, and is aimed at preparing for the summit of the heads of state and government which Tunisia is due to host in
Djerba in November 2021.