Djerba Summit: defining new ambitions for the Francophonie

The “Conference of heads of States and governments of countries having the French language as common value” is commonly referred to as the “Sommet de la Francophonie” (Francophonie Summit). It’s organised by the OIF (International Organisation of La Francophonie) every two years and should have been held in 2020 to celebrate the 50 years of La Francophonie. Because of the pandemic, the international conference was delayed to 2022, and held on the Djerba island, “the land of pacific cohabitation between religions and civilizations for over 3,000 years”.

Five new ambitions to strengthen assets

According to the OIF, in the course of the last 50 years, “Francophonie experimented considerable progress. Such progress led to acquire assets that we should ensure and amplify”. This is why the Djerba Summit defined its objective to turn before 2030 into “a space for solidarity that is better governed, more inclusive, digital, innovative, sustainable and prosperous for its people, and first of all for women and young people”.

To reach this objective, the OIF define five common ambitions:

• strengthen the influence of French speakers worldwide, including through an intensification of its diplomacy of influence and a multiplication of exchanges between economic players with a French-speaking economic diplomacy;
• strengthen the use of French language worldwide, by encouraging the practice of French language in education, economic and cultural exchanges, in sciences and in the digital space;
• promote cultural and linguistic diversity worldwide, by highlighting “the diversity and dialogue of cultures in favour of inclusive and sustainable development”;
• turn Francophonie into a space for peace and stability through the prevention and management of conflicts and supervision of transitions, but also by working for “the consolidation of democracy and protection of human rights”;
• turn Francophonie into a laboratory for strategic and innovative cooperation by putting in place innovative and proximity projects to contribute to “a sound and sustainable environment”, and particularly to fight climate changes by supporting the acceleration of digital transformation.

The place of France in Francophonie

The Summit was also an opportunity for French president Macron to speak and remind the projects already in place and offer new joint initiatives to promote Francophonie, including in the digital space.

Using a civic consultation that gathered over 5,000 ideas, French president Macron reminded that he had presented in 2018 an “innovative and ambitious strategy for the French language and multilingualism, based on learning, communication and creation”.  

Four years later, “there is a lot of progress: French is the 5th most spoken language worldwide and one of the languages of the world of today and tomorrow, carrying a vision of mankind, desire and shared values”.

Three major actions guide “the ambition for the French language and multilingualism” pushed by France:

• learning, by supporting education systems of French-speaking countries and by strengthening the place of French language in countries where it is learnt as foreign language;
• communicating, by confirming the place of French language on the Internet and promoting multilingualism in the European, but also with a promotion effort for French-speaking medias;
• creating, by supporting artistic creation in the French-speaking world, through bridges between cultural spaces of French-speaking countries and increased mobility of talents.

This action plan in three steps is, according to Macron, a “critical asset to gather around the template of globalisation defended by France”. This position will be defended during the next Summit that will be held in France in 2024, as Macron announced.

Francophonie: key figures

• the OIF (International Organisation of La Francophonie) brings together 88 Member States and governments (54 members, 7 associated members and 27 observers);
• in 2022, French language was present on 112 countries and territories;
• 321 million French speakers worldwide;
• in 4 years, 21 million additional people speak French, a 7% increase since 2018;
• 255 million use French on a daily basis;
• in total, 1.2 billion inhabitants worldwide speak French;
• French is spoken on 5 continents, and is 5th language worldwide (behind English, Chinese, Hindi and Spanish).