The organization supports member countries on sustainable development by supporting improvement of economic governance, capacity building, cooperation as well as multiculturalism and linguistic diversity.
“We are confident that member states of OIF would welcome Tanzania with pleasure, considering the importance of the country’s role in the region and internationally,” the French Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr. Frédéric Clavier said during a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The envoy, flanked by Ambassadors from Francophone countries represented in Tanzania, was speaking ahead of the “Semaine de la Francophonie” or marking of “Francophone Week” in Tanzania scheduled to take place between March 16 and 25 this year.
Mr Clavier explained that there are many countries in the world which are neither connected to French language and culture but have joined the organization as observers nor full members. “We are ready to enter into dialogue with the government of Tanzania to support it in joining our organization,” the envoy stressed.
At the occasion, the Swiss Ambassador in Tanzania, Ms Florence Mattli, stressed that trading within Africa and globally requires multilingualism.“Combined mastery of Swahili and foreign languages such as French opens the doors of employment in Tanzania, Africa and in the world,” she pointed.
The Assistant High Commissioner of Canada in Tanzania, Ms Susan Steffen, pointed to the fact that despite Swahili and English being the major languages in Tanzania, the country is a neighbor to a number of Francophone countries.
Ms Steffen mentioned the countries as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda which share land boarders with Tanzania in addition to island nations in the Indian Ocean such as the Comoros, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Estimates indicate that there are 300 million people in Francophone countries, half of whom are in Africa. Half of countries in Africa are members of the African Union (AU) and the Francophonie as well.