Paris, France — Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano Tuesday called for a strong focus on promoting the three linguistic spaces of Lusophone, Hispanophone and Francophone as an economic bloc.
Chissano was speaking at the opening of a two-day symposium at the Sorbonne University in Paris centred on the challenges of globalisation in the three linguistic spaces.
Host President Jacques Chirac and his counterpart from Ecuador, Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, also attended the conference.
The Secretary General of the Francophonie organisation Boutros Boutros Ghali as well as other high ranking dignitaries attended the event.
Chissano said that the conference was an opportunity to develop mechanisms capable of promoting increased co-operation between the three linguistic groupings to face together the challenges of globalisation.
The Mozambican leader, however, stated that the meeting was taking place at a time when his country was gripped by yet more difficulties associated with flooding.
He recalled that the country had had no time to recover from last year's devastating floods before new ones this year engulfed it again.
Since the end of January provinces of Sofala, Tete, Zambezia and Manicaland in the central region of Mozambique have been under severe flooding which has killed 100 people and displaced thousands of others, he said.
Chissano stated that huge infrastructural damage and the loss of around 50,000 hectares of crops were some of the consequences of the current floods which have created a new disaster that has forced the government once again to re-orient its programmes and priorities to respond to the emergency.
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He thanked the international community for the solidarity and help accorded to Mozambique, including the efforts which have contributed towards minimising suffering among the affected population.
Chissano attended the conference in his capacity as president of the organisation, which strengthens historical and cultural links between Portuguese-speaking peoples in Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
The Lusophone community was created in 1996 and includes Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, with East Timor as an observer.
Chissano stated that the grouping was created to consolidate a national and pluri-national reality that gave its own identity to Portuguese-speaking states as well as deepen relations among them.
He expressed the hope that the conference would provide a greater exchange amongst the three language groupings' people through cultural, artistic, literary, scientific, commercial and sporting activities.
After the opening session, Chissano held discussions with Chirac.
