ARTICLE - MARTELLY - DIOUF - FRANCOPHONIE

ABDOU DIOUF REITERATED THE SUPPORT OF THE FRANCOPHONE TO HAITI
(Haiti Libre) -

President Michel Martelly, received at the National Palace, Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). The discussions focused on a set of problems that concern the recovery and the reconstruction of Haiti and the role that OIF wants to play in this process.

"Haiti has a central role in the Caribbean, and if we want to develop our cooperation with this region, it's on it, that we must rely" affirmed Abdou Diouf, at a press briefing yesterday at the National Palace, after a working session with collaborators of President Martelly.

The actions of the Francophonie on Haiti will be oriented towards the establishment of the rule of law, democracy, human rights, justice and education. However, Mr. Diouf believes that the reconstruction should follow the will of the President Martelly, of his government and of people of Haiti.

"...La Francophonie has a major concern, is that this reconstruction must be done according to the will and vision of the President, of the government and of the people of Haiti. The role of the international community is to help, to accompany along the way chosen by Haiti, [...] while respecting Haitian identity. When we speak of the Haitian identity, it is the identity of the populations speaking creole and french, and this brings us in the direct line of the problems of education. We are ready and have already started to help in the fields of early childhood education, preschool education, primary education, and the training of teachers.

Plans are already at work in the field of secondary and higher education, and in the field of vocational and technical training. The OIF has expertise [...] and we're here. We are already working with the government, the President of the Republic and the Haitian authorities. [...] We are at your disposal, but as I said, it belongs to Haiti to define its policy, and it is our responsibility to support this policy [...] We will strongly support Haiti in this area and also in the field of security. We have experience in building security systems, whether military or civilian security. As you know, the Francophonie is a modern organization, [...] and in all sectors of activity that concerns the refoundation of Haiti, the Francophonie have networks that can intervene..."

In addition, Abdou Diouf has supported a request from President Martelly to make French one of the working languages ​​of Caricom, the Caribbean Common Market.

President Michel Martelly welcomed the actions of the OIF and wants to develop other types of cooperation with the French speaking community.