ArmenPress, Armenia Oct 10 2018 La Francophonie Economic Forum is arena for diversifying external commercial relations, says foreign ministry YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The La Francophonie economic forum is a platform in which Armenia will diversify its foreign economic relations, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan told reporters ahead of the forum. “The La Francophonie economic forum will have impact on foreign economic policy. Not only [government]officials, but also businessmen from nearly five dozen countries are in attendance of the forum,” he said. Digital technologies is one of the main topics of the forum. Balayan said in this context Armenia has many proposals. He praised the governmental interagency commission, led by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, for daily supervision of the preparations for the forum and the summit. On October 4, Tigran Balayan was named next Ambassador of Armenia to the Netherlands. The forum is organized under the high patronage of President Armen Sarkissian. Back at the 2014 summit of La Francophonie in Senegal, participants agreed to deepen the economic direction of the organization – adopting the first economic strategy of La Francophonie. Yerevan is hosting the XVII International Organisation of La Francophonie summit in 2018. The events will take place October 7-12, with the summit scheduled for the final two days. Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008. The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted by the French language. The French language and its humanist values represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation of La Francophonie is based. The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274 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. IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones). The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional offices (West Africa; Central Africa and Indian Ocean; Asia-Pacific) located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi (Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in Port-au-Prince (Haiti). Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the programs decided at the Summits. The four direct operators are: the Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of Alexandria. 58 Member States and Governments: Albania, Principality of Andorra, Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco, Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam. 26 Observers: Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada-Ontario, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan