Canadian Embassy hosts 'La Francophonie Day'

KUWAIT: His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah speaks during a ceremony to celebrate ‘La Francophonie Day’ as Ambassador of Canada to Kuwait Martine Moreau looks on.— Photo by Joseph Shagra

KUWAIT: His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said on Monday that multiculturalism is a necessity for a continuous world peace.  In today's world, multiculturalism crosses borders, enable peoples to know each other, provides better job opportunities for those who learn languages, and opens markets for the flow of business and goods, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad told a ceremony to celebrate the International Francophonie Day held at the Canadian Embassy. His Highness Sheikh Nasser sponsored the event, also attended by several sheikhs, ambassadors and senior state officials. He voiced pleasure for attending the ceremony for the sixth year in a row.

His Highness Sheikh Nasser said that marking the occasion emphasizes the ability of the French language to play a major role in multiculturalism in the world today. Among about 100 living language, French is spoken by 220 million people - according to the official site of the International Organization of La Francophonie - but the strength of language is mainly judged by its relation to knowledge, and its ability to enrich sciences with vocabulary, phrases and terminology, His Highness Sheikh Nasser said.

Most capable

This has placed French among the most capable European languages to provide humanities and legal vocabulary, producing chief literary and artistic movements and figures.  These include Surrealisme, with pioneers Andre Breton and Robert Desnos; Existentialisme (Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty);

Nouveau roman (Alain Robbe-Grillet and Nathalie Sarraute); Theatre de l'absurde (Eugene Ionesco and Arthur Adamov), His Highness Sheikh Nasser said.  His Highness expressed hope that more non-Western French-speaking writers would win the Nobel Prize for Literature; three African English writers have won the prize;

Nigeria's Wole Soyinka (1986), South Africa's Nadine Gordimer (1991) and John Maxwell Coetzee (2003). In 2006, His Highness Sheikh Nasser gave the go-ahead for adding the RFI (Radio France Internationale) on FM-Kuwait, coinciding with the His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's arrival at Paris Orly Airport in November on an official visit to the Republic.

In addition, the French Language and Literature Department at the Faculty of Arts in Kuwait University (KU) was opened in cooperation with the Sorbonne.  Talks are under way for opening a branch of the Sorbonne in Kuwait, hopefully to be accomplished by the end of 2017, to further promote bilateral ties, His Highness Sheikh Nasser pointed out.

Kuwait is reaching out to la Francophonie for further exchange of constructive ideas and values, as well as cultural and intellectual production, since the country has been seeking to be a stronghold of culture and arts in this part of the world, His Highness Sheikh Nasser concluded.

The ceremony was attended by the ambassadors of Canada, France, Switzerland and Belgium, along with other Francophone envoys and diplomats in Kuwait, as well as the Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kuwait.

Great pride

"Today is an occasion to showcase with great pride our commitment to the Francophonie, a community of 84th states and governments which comprise a population of approximately one billion inhabitants, of which close to a third speak French as mother tongue," said Martine Moreau, Ambassador of Canada to Kuwait and the event's host.

The annual celebration of La Francophonie Day signals the commitment to the French language and to the rich and diverse Francophonie culture, she said. "It allows us to recall the importance of Francophonie to the world in favor of promoting peace, democracy, respect for human rights, sustainable development as well as the central place it gives to women, youth and the vulnerable in its work," she said.

She added that the participation of Canada in La Francaphonie highlights the North American country's linguistic duality. "In Canada, the French language is an official language with English. Nearly eight million inhabitants or almost a quarter of the entire population identity French as their mother tongue," she said.

She mentioned her country's objective in promoting 'La Francophonie' besides peace, democracy, respect to human rights but also including good governance, encourage linguistic diversity and providing international visibility for Canada's Francophone community. The event was also featured a performance by famous musical troupe Les Portageux. The Canadian envoy also acknowledged the support of Sheikh Nasser, who himself speaks French fluently, and used the language while addressing the audience.

By Ben Garcia and KUNA