Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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278. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland will be participating in the upcoming summit of L'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie in Tunisia; if so, the Minister or officials that will be attending; the key issues Ireland will be raising at the summit; if human rights will be amongst them; the amount Ireland has paid to the organisation since becoming an observer member; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53748/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The XVIII Summit de la Francophonie was due to be held in Djerba, Tunisia this month. It has now been postponed until November 2022.

Ireland has held Observer Membership Status at L'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) since 2018. Members are required to pay statutory contributions on an annual basis. The annual contribution is fixed for all Observer Members. Ireland has made the following statutory contributions -

2021- €11,661.00

2020- €11,490.00

2019- €11,319.00

2018- €11,152.00

Our membership of the OIF is part of our strategy to expand our international presence. Observer Status helps to extend our global footprint, including to areas like francophone Africa where we have no resident diplomatic presence. It facilitates Ireland’s networking through OIF meetings, and raising our profile among the OIF membership. It also helps to promote a number of our key foreign policy objectives, including the promotion of peace, democracy and human rights.

Since Ireland obtained observer status, we have endeavoured to establish close relations with the Organisation and its Member States. Ireland has appointed a diplomat, in the Irish Embassy in Paris, to deepen our engagement with the OIF and to develop our relations with states in Francophone West Africa. Missions across our network have also been participating in local Francophonie groupings.