Francophonie Festival 2016 is going to begin Friday in Dhaka and Chittagong amid festivity and enthusiasm.
Every year, one month after “Ekushey February”, the Francophone community celebrates and promotes worldwide the use of the French language as well as cultural and linguistic diversity.
In the framework of the 2016 edition, the Francophone diplomatic missions in Bangladesh, together with Alliances françaises, in Dhaka and Chittagong, are set to offer a rich programme of activities from March 11 to 20.
Alliance Française de Dhaka has set up a week-long programme 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, Institute of Modern Languages (IML, auditorium), at 10 on March 16. The panellists will be ambassadors of the Francophonie countries and eminent Bangladeshi personalities including Professor Anisuzzaman (Professor Emeritus, Dhaka University).
Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique will be present as chief guest and Dr Jinnat Imtiaz Ali, director of International Mother Language Institute, will be special guest at the programme.
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 11am at Hotel Le Méridien on March 20.
French language is spoken by 220 million of individuals worldwide, and it is the official language of 32 countries. The Francophonie missions present in Dhaka are the High Commission of Canada, Embassies of Egypt, Switzerland, France, Vietnam, Morocco and Qatar.