Francophonie Festival 2016 began on 11 March 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 program of activities from 11-20 March.

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 10:00am on 16 March. The panellists will be ambassadors of the Francophonie countries and eminent Bangladeshi personalities:  Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman, Dhaka University vice-chancellor Dr A A M S Arefin Siddique as the chief guest, director of International Mother Language Institute Dr Jinnat Imtiaz Ali as the special guest and keynote speaker. 

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 — on 20 March at 11:00am at Hotel Le Méridien.

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.