OIF SG visits Seychelles on regional tour – Commitment to promoting French
Diplomacy |Author: Rita Joubert-Lawen | September 5, 2022, Monday @ 18:25| 3512 views
OIF Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo with President Wavel Ramkalawan (Rassin Vannier, Seychelles News Agency)
(Seychelles News Agency) - The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) will reinforce its cooperation with Seychelles with some “high impact projects”, said a high-ranking official on Monday.
The national correspondent for Seychelles at the Organisation International de la Francophonie, Ralph Agrippine, made the announcement after the organisation’s secretary general, Louise Mushikiwabo, visited President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House this morning.
“They are the types of projects that if you put in 10,000 they will yield 50,000,” he said to the media after Mushikiwabo’s visit.
The OIF, commonly referred to as La Francophonie, is an international organisation with 88 member states and governments from regions where French is the common language used or who have strong cultural ties to the French culture.
Her visit to Seychelles – a long time-member of la Francophonie – is at Ramkalawan’s invitation and also part of her regional tour.
Meanwhile, President Ramkalawan first met the OIF SG at the One Ocean summit in Brest, France, earlier this year.
"Your visit is of great importance as it allows us not only to reiterate our desire to strengthen cooperation with the OIF and to advance our programmes, but it also allows us to demonstrate our attachment to French and to find together the means to promote it in Seychelles," said President Ramkalawan in a press statement on Monday.
Furthermore, Mushikiwabo thanked President Ramkalawan “for the warm welcome she has received since her arrival in Seychelles. She gave a brief overview of the transformations that have taken place at the IOF in recent years and expressed her organisation's commitment to accompanying Seychelles in its programmes to promote the French language,” said the statement.
During the visit in Seychelles, Mushikiwabo has also had discussions with Foreign Affairs Minister Sylvestre Radegonde and Fisheries Minister Jean-Francois Ferrari.
Mushikiwabo – the OIF’s fourth secretary general – was elected by other French-speaking heads of states in October 2019, replacing Canadian Michaëlle Jean.
She has held other high government posts in Rwanda prior to heading the OIF – with her last role being the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation from 2009 to 2018.
She is currently seeking re-election to head La Francophonie.