Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan has called on the French-speaking
community to pay greater attention and increase resources for the
protection and promotion of women and youngsters’ engagement in
political, economic and social life.
Addressing the
15th Summit of the International Organisation of La Francophonie
(IOF) that opened in Dakar, Senegal on November 29, the Vice
President shared Vietnam’s experience in strengthening gender
equality as well as the great contributions that Vietnamese women and
young people have made to the country’s past struggle for independence
and current national construction.
She also spoke
highly of IOF’s increased attention to strengthening relations with
Asia-Pacific countries, vowing that Vietnam will do its utmost to
foster ties between the IOF and the ASEAN and Asia-Pacific region as a
whole.
She highlighted Vietnam ’s external policy
of independence, self-reliance for peace, cooperation and development,
and international integration, and emphasised that Vietnam attaches
much importance to multilateral foreign activities, including its role
as an active member of the UN Human Right Council and its participation
for the first time in UN peacekeeping operations.
Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, the only representative of the
Asia-Pacific region at the event, expressed concern about the
increasingly complicated political and security situation in the world,
with more hot spots, conflicts and rising global challenges such as
terrorism, climate change, poverty and pandemics.
She stressed the need for the IOF to enhance solidarity and strengthen
joint efforts in order to cope with these common issues.
At the same time, she underlined that all disputes must be, and can be
solved through peaceful measures on the basis of dialogue and
cooperation.
The Vietnamese leader called on the IOF
to continue supporting the stance of the ASEAN and Vietnam on dealing
peacefully with conflicts, including the East Sea dispute, on the
basis of respect for international law and the United Nations Charter.
Held under the theme “Women and Children in the
Francophonie: Peacemakers and Key-Players for Development,” the 15 th
IOF Summit gathered 28 presidents, prime ministers and senior leaders of
77 IOF member governments and states, as well as representatives from
regional and international organisations, including the UN and the
African Union.
The event heard a report on the
organisation’s operation by outgoing IOF Secretary-General Abdou Diof,
who is the former President of Senegal. The report also gave assessment
on the implementation of action plans in politics and diplomacy made
during the previous summit in Kinshasa , Congo in 2012, as well as a
summary on multilateral cooperation among the community.
During the two-day summit, participants are scheduled to elect a new
Secretary-General for the IOF and issue a Dakar joint statement.
In the framework of the event, the Francophonie Village in Daka
was held from November 24-30 with nearly 100 booths organised by IOF
members. Vietnam also showcased products of the Vietnam Post and
Telecommunication Corporation.
A series of workshops
were held on November 26-28 to boost collaboration in education and
seek ways to help women and children escape violence, as well as to
boost sustainable development in the community.
A
Francophonie economic forum will also be held on December 1-2 under
Senegal’s initiative, which aims to draw measures to make the
community a positive factor in global sustainable economic growth.
Currently, the IOF has 57 member countries and territories, and 20 observer members.
The IOF Summit is held every two years, with the first one taking
place in 1986 in France. Vietnam hosted the 7 th IOF summit in
1997.-VNA