France exalts organization of Francophone Games
Perfect preparation has guaranteed participant safety – minister
The security of all athletes and artists participating in the 2009 Francophone Games is assured, said the French Minister of Culture and Sport on Monday.
Rosalyne Bachelot-Narquin, in an interview with The Daily Star, said that she was confident the fragile security situation in Lebanon would not endanger the some 3,000 competitors taking part in the games, held in an Arab country for the first time.
“All conditions were met during the preparations,” she said. This included “the conditions of the teams and the accompanying personnel. I want to take note of the perfect organization of these games.”
Speaking at the inauguration of the Club de France in Beirut, Bachelot-Narquin spoke of France’s full support for the Francophone Games, once the security situation in Lebanon had been approved by the organizing committee.
The club de France is an initiative from the French National Olympic and Sporting Committee and will see the Beirut play host to a number of cultural and sporting events run in tandem with the Francophone Games.
“I see an extraordinary and encouraging sign that, even with the extreme difficulties Lebanon faced, this wonderful country found the moral and psychological force to organize these Francophone Games,” she said.
France has one of the biggest teams at the competition, made up of more than 200 amateur and professional participants. It also provided a significant amount of funding to modernize some of Lebanon’s cultural and sporting venues and ensure the country’s infrastructure was capable of accommodating the athletes and artists, as well as the additional thousands of support staff who will call Beirut home until the games end on October 6.
“France does not come here to give lessons. It is here to provide help, in particular for these games, and its financing was important,” said Bachelot-Narquin. “It is here to help also through the participation of a significant team.”
She added that France did not wish to use the games a pretext “to interfere with Lebanese politics.”
Over the next 10 days, artists, athletes, celebrities and policymakers from across the French-speaking world will participate in events designed to highlight the Francophone Organization’s proclaimed ideals of conviviality, cultural diversity and openness.
France and Lebanon are “two countries that have so much common history, values, friendship and complicity,” said Bachelot-Narquin. “I have no doubt that this message will be heard and that it will resonate in the entire world.”
Monday’s launch saw a number of exhibitions, lectures and discussion forums, giving representatives from participating nations the chance to share views and information on sporting and cultural pluralism. A performance followed by French artist Coko, the country’s singing representative at the games.
Tuesday will see the Conference of the Francophone Academies, compared by the President of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, Andre Leclerq, which will discuss the role that sport has to play in a country’s cultural system. The event will also feature the opening of a permanent exhibition, The Olympic Games: Past and Present, unveiled by French Secretary of State for Sport, Rama Yade.
A number of conferences focusing on the economic and policymaking impact of sport and culture will take place in the coming days. The Symposium of the Francophone Business Forum will meet on October 3 in a debate on the role of Lebanon has to play in the future of the Mediterranean economy.
Also on October 3, the city of Nice will formally present its candidacy for hosting the seventh Francophone Games, to take place in 2013. Christian Estrosi, French Minister of Industry and mayor of Nice, will be present to tender his city’s bid.