Back to the speakers'list
Back to the program

French-speaking countries, Tourism and Sustainable Development

Saliou AKADIRI - Deputy Secretary General of the Francophone High Council, Paris, France

 

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of Monsieur Roger DEHAYBE General Administrator of the Intergovernmental Agency of French speaking countries, allow me to thank you for your time and attention during the preparation of the present meeting on the theme : "French-speaking countries, Tourism and Sustainable Development".

He also asked me to represent him at this meeting and to pass on to you his best wishes and the support of his organisation.

For us this morning's meeting serves a double purpose as :

• Tourism plays a major role in the development of many countries ;
• It is today an essential factor of sustainable development.

Before talking about the objectives that we hope this meeting will achieve, I would like to briefly tell you about the Intergovernmental Agency for French speaking Countries.

Created in Niamey on 20 March 1970 by three African Heads of State : Hamani Diori of Nigeria, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal and Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, the Agency for Cultural and Technical cooperation which grouped together 21 States and Governments, was the starting point for the Francophone institution.

The Summit meeting of French speaking Heads of States and Governments took place in Hanoi in November 1997 and was an important step in the evolution of "la Francophonie" at which the decision was taken to make it an independent international political institution.

The Agency which is the only intergovernmental Francophone organisation, heads multitaleral co-operation between French speaking countries.

This organisation whose head office is in Paris, today groups together 47 States and governments members, spanning the five continents, in other words one out of four countries in the world.

It has regional offices in Lomé for West Africa, in Libreville for Central Africa and the Indian Ocean and in Hanoi for Pacific Asia.

Thanks to its liaison offices, its work is continued by the European Union in Brussels, the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in New York, International Organisations in Geneva and lastly by the Organisation for African Unity at Addis-Abeba.

Two subsidiary bodies, namely the Francophone Institute for new information technologies and training at Bordeaux in France and the Institute of the Environment and Power of French speaking countries in Quebec in Canada, complete this institution's organisational structure.

The Agency also relies on a network of national correspondents designated by their Governments.

This organisation is the reason for the success of our actions for cooperation and development in the member countries.

The Agency is the main organising body of the Francophone Summits.

The Summits of heads of States and governments are where major political problems and those relating to co-operation between French speaking countries are dealt with. Major directives for action taken as part of this co-operation are also established.

This multilateral co-operation covers education, technical and vocational training, culture, languages, new information and communication technologies, legal and judicious co-operation and economic, social and sustainable development.

Faced with the growing marginalisation of southern French speaking countries in terms of trade and economic development, the francophone community decided following the Chaillot Summit in 1991 and that of Mauritius in 1993, to put some of the Agency's funds into actions supporting economic development. Indeed, in spite of undoubted progress in some countries, globalisation may well make integration even more difficult for developing countries. This situation encourages solidarity between northern and southern French speaking countries that have decided on policy with the aim of creating a context favourable to economic activities. Although Tourism is not yet on the Agency's programme, we have nevertheless observed that it is an important part of international commerce at the heart of French speaking countries.

As you know tourism is today one of the major economic activities in the world. It is also one of the major components of international commerce. Its cultural, economic and social impact is considerable.

What role is played by French speaking countries ?

In 1998, two of the ten most visited countries in the world are French speaking, the first being France with more than 70 million visitors. In the same year, many international tourists also set off on their travels from French speaking countries notably France, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and Monaco.

More than 75 % of tourists visiting southern French speaking countries are francophones. This is due to the cultural and linguistic links at the heart of the francophone network. This is why the major partners participating in tourist projects in French speaking countries are mainly French speaking.

In spite of outstanding economic results in this sector, most of our countries are currently confronted with problems managing the ecological and sociological effects of modern tourism.

The undesirable ecological effects of tourism are not only found in industrialised countries. They increasingly concern southern countries which benefit from the economic earnings from tourism. And so the concept of sustainable tourism becomes clear.

It is consequently important to draw up tourist policies which aim to improve the quality of the product, its strategic diversification and the equilibrium of the ecosystems.

The Francophone Institution has recently started deliberations on this topic. Indeed since February 1999, the International Francophone Organisation, through its permanent representative at the United Nations in New York, has organised a series of meetings to prepare its member countries to participate in the 7th session of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development, one of the themes of which is sustainable tourism.

At this meeting, a statement was adopted giving the following concerns :

• the creation of economic, social, environmental, judicial, fiscal and sanitary conditions needed to attract private investors.
• the integration of tourist activities in national policies for sustainable development ;
• the internationalisation of ecological and social costs, both on a national and regional level ;
• the elaboration of master guidelines for sustainable tourism in French speaking countries and the possible development of related Indicators ;
• the development of a code of ethics, particularly concerning sexual tourism and child labour ;
• the promotion of exchanges and the circulation of information concerning good tourist practices and the creation of data bases for sustainable tourism ;
• the promotion of private sector awareness by developing a code of conduct ;
• the search for synergies between State action, private operators and society ;
• the drawing up of educational and training programmes integrating sustainable tourism.

We hope this meeting will start deliberations to enhance the initiative taken by the Intergovernmental Francophone Organisation. I believe we can also take advantage of the Summits of Tourism to give our expertise on the tourist situation in southern countries.

Whilst talking about development and the environment I would like to remind you that the Agency actively participated in 1992 in the work undertaken at the Rio de Janeiro Conference.

Through the Institute of the Environment and Power of French speaking countries, the Agency, as part of its environmental programme, mobilised francophone expertise in partnership networks.

This enables them to participate in: think tanks set up by francophone organisations and by the technical bodies of various conventions ; discussions on emerging topics, as well as to develop and transfer

suitable technologies.

The active presence of our member countries has been ensured during the main international meetings on biological diversity, climatic change, growth of deserts, forests, water, and environmental surveys.

With our experience in sustainable development, the Agency is ready to look at ways and means of assisting, upon request by its member countries, the setting up of development policies for sustainable tourism.

I hope that this meeting will enable us to further our own deliberations on sustainable tourism and to explore, if necessary, means of cooperation between francophone member countries and tourist institutions and organisations.

I hope your meeting will be highly successful and thank you for you kind attention.