Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Baku hosted the closing ceremony of Francophonie Weeks on April 21.

The embassies of France, Belgium, Costa Rica, Greece, Hungary, Morocco, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Switzerland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia in Azerbaijan, as well as the European Union representation took part in the festival.

In her speech, Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan Aurelia Bouchez noted that Francophonie Weeks is an important event for Azerbaijan, which plays a large role in familiarizing the Azerbaijani public with the culture of French-speaking countries.

She expressed gratitude to the Culture Ministry for assistance in organizing and holding the event at a high level.

The event continued with a spectacular concert program. Niyazi Symphony Orchestra performed the works by the German composer Robert Schumann. Azerbaijani pianists Yegana Akhundova and Said Tagizade were accompanied by the French conductor Nathalie Moran. The concert hall resounded with cheers and applause.

The International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF) was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 88 member states and governments (61 members and 27 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 300 million French speakers.

IOF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the French language, peace and sustainable development.

Overall, the days of French language and culture are annual spring event in Azerbaijan that brings French-speaking people together.

A number of events were organized as part of Francophonie Weeks.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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