Armenia participates at the 12th Summit of the Francophonie

20 October, 2008

The 24th session of the Ministerial Council and 12th Summit of the heads of state and government of the International Organization of Francophonie took place in Quebec City on October 15-19, 2008.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso attended the Summit that brought together participants from 55 member countries and 13 observer nations.

Armenia was represented at the Ministerial Council and the Summit by H.E. Mr. Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Participants of the Summit discussed the report of Secretary-General, Mr. Abdou Diouf, on the activities of the Organization during the last two years, as well as touched upon issues of international importance, such as democracy and the rule of law, economic governance, the environment, and the French language.

On October 18 the Summit adopted a resolution, upgrading Armenia to associate member of the International Organization of Francophonie.

Armenia applied for this status in April 2008. On April 22 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met the OIF Secretary-General Abdou Diouf and reiterated Armenia’s intention to further deepen its involvement in the activities of the Organization. This was followed by approvals of Armenia’s associate member status by the Francophonie Permanent Council and a resolution of Ministerial Council of the Organization.

Following the adoption of the Summit resolution the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia addressed the heads of state and government. He highly evaluated the cooperation and solidarity of the Francophone member-countries and stressed that Armenia is committed to the values of the Organization and will make efforts to actively contribute to the activity of the Organization of Francophone countries.

During the Summit Minister Nalbandian had a meeting with the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada. Both ministers discussed a wide range of issues of Armenian-Canadian bilateral relations, particularly stressing the importance of cooperation in the field of high technologies and telecommunications, as well as economic and cultural relations.

Within the framework of the Summit H.E. Mr. Edward Nalbandian and H.E. Mr. Franck Biancheri, Minister for Foreign Relations of the Principality of Monaco signed a Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia also had a meeting with the leaders and high ranking clergy of the Armenian community of Canada.

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