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Ireland granted Observer Status at the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie

 

Ireland has been granted Observer Status at the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). The organisation's 58 members and 26 observers share a commitment to the French language and francophone culture and work together on the promotion of peace, human rights and sustainable development.

Earlier today, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen McEntee T.D., addressed the 17th Summit of the Francophonie in Yerevan, Armenia, and thanked the Heads of State and Government of the membership for supporting Ireland's application and for the confidence they had placed the country. 

The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar T.D., submitted Ireland's application for Observer status earlier this year and, as the Minister of State explained at the summit, Observer status was one of the steps set out in 'Global Ireland', the Government’s initiative to double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint in the period to 2025.

In her address to the summit, Minister McEntee reiterated Ireland's commitment to multilateralism and recalled Ireland's involvement in UN and European peacekeeping missions in many parts of the francophone world.  She pointed out that Irish writers such as Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett wrote some of their works in French and that the passion in Ireland for the French language is such that the Alliance Francaise in Dublin is the third busiest Alliance in Europe.

Source: www.dfa.ie

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