Francophone summit eyes crises as well as language

BUCHAREST, Sep 26 (Reuters) Leaders of dozens of French-speaking countries gather in Bucharest this week to discuss crises in regions like the West Asia as well as the importance of French language and culture.

Romania, the first European country apart from France to host the biennial summit of the Francophonie organisation, hopes it will help it carve out a bigger diplomatic role when it joins the European Union next year.

''We live in hard times, with many political crises so this summit is particularly important,'' foreign minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu said on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' meeting which precedes the leaders' summit on Thursday and Friday.

''Our organisation should be politically involved in areas such as the West Asia, Iran, Kosovo,'' Ungureanu said.

Romanians, whose own language has Latin roots, have a traditional affinity for French language and culture. Before World War Two Bucharest's wide boulevards and villas earned it the nickname of ''Little Paris''. The country joined the Francophonie group in 1993.

The week-long gathering brings together 1,500 delegates from more than 60 countries with large French-speaking populations, including France's president Jacques Chirac, Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper and Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt.

The summit comes at a time when, diplomats say, France is increasingly frustrated with the declining use of French in EU business in Brussels.

More and more meetings are conducted in English, particularly since the bloc's 2004 eastward enlargement, which brought in ex-communist states whose officials are less likely to speak French than their Western counterparts.

''We want to promote the use of French language in debates of international organisations ... we want French to have the same status as English,'' Ungureanu said.

Bucharest is rolling out the red carpet for the event, closing main streets that crisscross the typically congested and chaotic city and beefing up security.

Secret service agents and some 2,000 additional policemen will patrol the capital throughout the week.

Romania has chosen information technology in education as the main theme of the meeting, which is accompanied by numerous cultural events.

Delegates will release a communique on Friday, elect a new secratary general to replace former Senegal President Abdou Diouf, and discuss new membership applications.

REUTERS AB VV1916