MEMORANDUM ON FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHING WAS SIGNED AT THE FOREIGN MINISTRY
On 20 February Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis signed on behalf of Lithuanian Government a multilateral Memorandum on long-term French language teaching programme for public officers of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Memorandum was also signed by International Organization of French-speaking Communities and members of this organization: French community of Belgium represented by Daniel Menschaert, Governments of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and France represented by French Ambassador to Lithuania Guy Yelda.
The Memorandum is one of the preparation measures for Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union in 2013. About 400 public officers from the Office of the Government, ministries and other state institutions, who represent Lithuania in the committees and work groups of the Council of the EU and European Commission, will improve their knowledge of French.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister stressed that in order to implement successfully future tasks of Lithuanian EU Presidency Lithuanian public officers should speak working languages of the EU fluently.
“We hope that in 2010 during the first stage of preparation for the EU presidency Lithuanian public officers will be able to hold negotiations and discussions in French,” the Minister said.
Mr Valionis also stressed the importance of cooperation between Lithuania and France and other French-speaking countries. According to the Minister, currently almost 19 000 pupils study French at school and discover the culture of these countries, become more tolerant.
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