Geopolitics of the French Language SYNOPSIS COMMENTARY

083 – 10 October 2024 The authors’ views are their own and do not represent the official position of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies of the S. [...] mailto:rsispublications@ntu.edu.sg Image from Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Once a prominent diplomatic language spoken by the elites throughout the world in the 18th and 19th centuries, the French language has since lost some of its influence to English. [...] The OIF functions as a "mini–UN General Assembly," with its political bodies (the Summit of Heads of State and Government, the Ministerial Conference, and the Permanent Council), its Secretariat general, its parliamentary body, and its university (Université Senghor in Alexandria, Egypt). [...] Additionally, the Indian territory of Pondicherry, where the French language holds an official status, joined the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie in 2023. [...] As the next summit will be held in Cambodia in 2026, contributing to the promotion of Francophonie in the Asia-Pacific region, 29 years after the last summit held in this area in Hanoi in 1997, a state like Singapore should take an interest in this organisation and even apply for observer status, as an ASEAN country like Thailand did in the past.