Việt Nam elected as Chair of GAF

February 21,bxh jamaica 2018 - 09:00

Việt Nam was elected as Chair of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors (GAF) in Switzerland in 2018, during the group’s 8th meeting in Bern yesterday.

Vietnamese Ambassador Phạm Hải Bằng. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Hoa

BERN, Switzerland — Việt Nam was elected as Chair of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors (GAF) in Switzerland in 2018, during the group’s 8th meeting in Bern yesterday. 

At the meeting, Swiss Ambassador Anne Lugon-Mounlin said the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs completed its two-year tenure as the first Chair of the GAF and nominated Việt Nam as its successor. 
Vietnamese Ambassador Phạm Hải Bằng pledged that Việt Nam would work hard for the development of the GAF, while maintaining communications between members of the International Organisation of Francophone (OIF). 
Việt Nam will coordinate with other members to organise activities for Francophone Week in Switzerland in March, said the ambassador. 
Bằng also asked for support from the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs and heads of diplomatic agencies of the member nations, and especially Ambassador Anne Lugon-Mounlin, to help Việt Nam successfully assume the role as GAF Chair. 
Congratulating Ambassador Bằng in his new position, Henri Eli Monceau, head of the OIF permanent mission to the United Nations, said he hopes Việt Nam will continue promoting the spirit of the earlier OIF Summit in Hà Nội in 1997, to further the common goals of the French-speaking community. 
The GAF brings together more than 60 ambassadors from embassies of countries in Bern and permanent missions to the United Nations in Geneva who are members or observers of the OIF. — VNS