Roundup: 16th Francophonie Summit kicks off in Antananarivo

The 16th Francophonie (French-speaking countries) Summit officially kicked off on Saturday in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo with the presence of about 30 heads of state and government of the member countries of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), including French President Francois Hollande and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

As president of the host country, Malagasy President Hery Rajaonarimampianina called on the participants to "sustainably and effectively combat poverty, create wealth while preserving its natural resources, and slow global warming."

"The Francophone community must multiply initiatives to move towards a more just world and sustainable development," he stressed.

In his opening speech, French President Francois Hollande congratulated Madagascar for hosting this year's summit, calling it "the most important event that Madagascar holds since its independence."

For Hollande, the first priority of la Francophonie is to defend the language and the culture. He announced that 100,000 French teachers are going to be deployed in Africa through French Institute.

The French head of state also pledged to help African country to fight against climate change. According to him, 36 of the 50 countries that are most vulnerable to global warming are in sub-Sahara Africa.

As victim of terrorism, the French president expressed France's solidarity with the African countries that were struck by terrorist attacks.

"The world is agitated by threats. The extremist wants to regenerate fears," Holland told the participants.

"We are the targets, because French language is the language of reason, of liberty and of emancipation," Hollande continued, adding that it was "in French the universality of human rights was declared."

For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau first expressed condolences to Cuba and the Cuban people for the loss of Fidel Castro who passed away this Saturday morning at the age of 90.

The "extremely proud" feminist Canadian Prime minister called on the member states of the OIF to respect the rights of woman and girls, stressing that "when women and girls succeed, we will all benefit from it."

As a taboo topic in most of the member countries of the OIF where homosexuality faces severe punishments, including death penalty, Trudeau reiterated the rights of the LGBTQ community should be respected.

According to the OIF, the Francophonie authorities moved the 13th summit of La Francophonie to Montreux, Switzerland, in 2009, because of the political crisis that plagued the Madagascar, though the later already prepared to host it in 2010 for its first time.

The two-day summit, with the theme "Shared growth and responsible development: conditions for stability around the world and within the French-speaking world," will be closed on November 27 with a joint declaration of the participating heads of state and government. Endit