DHAKA: The Francophonie festival 2016 is set to begin simultaneously in Dhaka and Chittagong on Friday (March 11).

Every year, one month after “Ekushey February”, the Francophonie community celebrates and promotes worldwide the use of the French as well as cultural and linguistic diversity.

France embassy to Bangladesh issued a press release, signed by press and communication Attaché Shakhawat Hossain, on Thursday (March 10) in this regard.

In the framework of the 2016 edition, the Francophonie diplomatic missions in Bangladesh, together with Alliance Française in Dhaka and Chittagong, are set to arrange the program from March 11 to 20.

Alliance Française in Dhaka has set up a weeklong program of events such as “pétanque” competition, national finale of LabCitoyen (speech contest), cooking competition, Francophonie Short Film Festival 2016, visit to Liberation War Museum operated in French language, translation competition and many more.

A talk on “Preservation and Promotion of Mother Language” will be organised at Dhaka University (DU)’s Institute of Modern Languages (IML) auditorium at 10:00am on Wednesday (March 16).

The panelists will be ambassadors of the Francophonie countries and eminent Bangladeshi personalities including Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman as chief guest, DU vice-chancellor Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique as special guest and International Mother Language Institute director Dr Jinnat Imtiaz Ali as keynote speaker.

A seminar on “Trade between Bangladesh and Francophonie countries” will take place, under the auspices of three Francophonie Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Canada, France and Switzerland), at Hotel Le Méridien at 11:00am on March 20 (Sunday).

However, French is spoken by about 220 million individuals worldwide, and it is the official language of 32 countries.

The Francophonie missions in Dhaka are the High Commission of Canada and embassies of Egypt, Switzerland, France, Vietnam, Morocco and Qatar.

BDST: 1611 HRS, MAR 10, 2016
JP/SR/RR