By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A two-day summit of French-speaking countries commenced on Friday in France, the first in 33 years of the bloc with 54 member nations amongst which 29 are African.
The first day of the 19th Francophonie Summit which has as the theme, “create, innovate and do business in French”, takes place at the Cité internationale de la langue française, in Villers-Cotterêts.
The venue which was inaugurated on 30 October 2023 by French President, Emmanuel Macron, is entirely dedicated to the French language and French-speaking cultures, while on Saturday, proceedings will move to Paris.
The summit theme is “shared by young francophones around the globe when asked to take a survey in 2020”, Louise Mushikiwabo, the secretary general of the group known as OIF revealed.
French is one of the 5 most used languages in the world. According to the OIF, over 321 million people speak French. If the number of speakers continues to rise in the world, “teaching of French has shrunk”, Mushikiwabo told French newspaper Ouest France.
The Francophonie Summit is believed to be a platform through which Emmanuel Macron can meet with African leaders.
It comes at a time when the influence of France is gradually losing its grip in African countries.
This is felt in successive coups that took place Mali in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023 — all French-speaking nations.
The once Paris-friendly junta governments immediately shifted to Russia for military and economic assistance.
