The French Cultural Centre in Islamabad or Alliance Francaise Islamabad (AFI) and the Embassy of France organized a festive occasion ‘The Francophonie Summit Day’ on Saturday at the AFI’s premises to mark the 19th Francophonie Summit held recently in the French city Villers-Cotterets.
Besides the French embassy, High Commission of Canada, embassies of Tunisia, Belgium and Switzerland participated in the small but well-attended festival. They showcased their countries’ literature, culture, art, food and other traditional items at their respective stalls organized on the occasion.
However, what delighted the visitors most were Tunisia’s signature Couscous and Tajine prepared by the embassy’s skilled chefs; Belgium’s waffles served with sweet toppings and the Canadian brand Second Cup’s coffee. One could see the visitors waiting patiently to have their cup of latte or cappuccino.
Ambassador Nicolas Galey of France in his speech on the occasion highlighted diverse linguistic links and cultural activities that contribute to bringing nations together—and what else can be an effective medium in serving this purpose than French language which strengthens this link among France, French-speaking countries and Pakistan!
The event in Pakistan, the ambassador said, was supposed to be coincided with the summit in France (on October 5) but was rescheduled to Nov 2, due to, as he described ‘the situation on ground’ in Islamabad.
Giving a brief background of the ‘Journee du Sommet de la Francophonie’ or Francophonie Summit, the French ambassador informed that in 1539, King Francis I signed an ordinance that made the use of French instead of Latin mandatory for all legal and judicial acts throughout France.
At present, around 300 million people speak French as their first/main language and hundreds of millions use it as second language. The ambassador encouraged the French learners, students and teachers of both Alliance Francaise and the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), a large number wree present there too, and praised their commitment.
Newly-arrived Ambassador of Belgium, Idesbald van der Gracht also addressed the summit briefly and commended the efforts of the organizers for an impressive show. Belgium has been an important Francophone country and the embassy is engaged in prompting French language through a number of art, cultural and literary activities.
Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of Tunisia, Dorsaf Maaroufi and First Secretary of the Swiss Embassy Claudia Thomas also thanked the Alliance Francaise and the Embassy of France for organizing the event and reassured their commitment as Francophone nations.
First Secretary of the High Commission of Canada, Fenny Hum on behalf of the High Commissioner, expressed her pleasure at celebrating the ‘Sommet de la Francophonie’ with other participants. “Canada” she said, “is one of the founding countries of the International Organization of la Francophonie and has been an active member for over 50 years.” In Pakistan, we are working for promotion of the French culture and language. For example, at our mission, we offer French courses to our local staff and have a French language champion, she said. As a small token of our support for Alliance française, we are pleased to donate some books by French Canadian authors to the Alliance’s library. With Canadian mission’s support, a short documentary was also screened and coffee was provided free of cost from Second Cup which is a Canadian company with restaurants in Pakistan also, etc. At the end, prizes (Samsung Tablet) were distributed among the winners of sports-related picture/cartoon competition organized by the French Embassy. Ambassador Galey and the diplomats from the Francophonie countries distributed the prizes among Hamza Ajaz Janjua from COMSATS University, Saleha Ajaz from Convent School Wah Cantt, NUML’s three students Hira Ahmad, Laiba Latif Anwar and Muhammad Rabiyan and Asra Fatima from LGS Islamabad. Another group of two students Syed Mohib Hassan and Bushra Sultana will receive their prizes at AF Lahore.
