Ion Jinga elected President of the Francophone Ambassadors Group at the UN

Permanent Representative of Romania to the UN, Ambassador Ion Jinga, was elected on Friday, January 26, 2018, by acclamation, President of the Francophone Ambassadors Group at the UN – New York. The event was held at the Permanent Mission of the International Organization of La Francophonie in New York.

It is for the first time that a Romanian Ambassador is elected in this honorable position within the UN francophone diplomatic community in New York, as a recognition of Romania’s remarkable contribution to the promotion of the Francophone values, as well as a sign of appreciation of the activity and visibility of the Permanent Mission of Romania to the UN.

Background Note

The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has 57 full member states, 3 associated states and 20 observer countries. Romania obtained the full membership status of OIF in 1993. In 2003, the Regional Antenna of the OIF for Central and Eastern European Countries (EEC) was established in Bucharest and was later transformed into the Regional Office of OIF for EEC in September 2014.

In 2006, Bucharest hosted the 11th La Francophonie Summit and it was for the first time that a country in Central and Eastern Europe hosted a high-level La Francophonie meeting. The theme of the event, that brought together 36 Heads of State and Government, 25 Foreign Ministers and 11 Ministers of Culture, was “Information Technologies in Education”. In 2007, the Secretary-General of the OIF nominated Romania as “beacon-state” of Francophonie in Central and Eastern Europe for its role in promoting French and francophone values in the region. There are over 10,000 French language teachers in Romania, and French is studied by almost 1.5 million Romanian students.

On 1-2 November 2017, under the auspices of the President of Romania, Klaus Werner Iohannis, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized in Bucharest the Francophone Women’s Ministerial Conference, attended by more than 700 representatives from all over the world.

Romania’s affinities with the Francophone space are also reflected in the presence of Romanian military and police forces in some UN peacekeeping missions in Francophone States; also, the Romanian Gendarmerie School of Officers “Mihai Viteazul” is accredited by the UN to train police and gendarmerie officers in French. Up to now, 184 officers from 24 countries completed these courses.

Source:RRA, Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations