The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, on the occasion of the Francophonie Days, today visited the French Language and Literature study group at the Department of Romance Languages and Literature at the Faculty of Philology "Blaze Koneski" - Skopje.

Accompanied by the French Ambassador, Ms. Lawrence Auеr, President Ivanov was informed about the functioning of the Department of Romance Languages, about the achieved successes, published papers, the interest to study the French language, as well as about the cooperation of this Department which includes the Spanish and Italian language and literature study groups.

The Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Slavica Veleva, expressed her gratitude to President Ivanov for the visit and said it is special honor for the students and teachers of the French Language study group that the Day of the International Organization of the Francophonie - March 20, was symbolically marked at their department.

The Macedonian President said that the Francophone values are close to the Republic of Macedonia and therefore we should nurture and affirm them. Although we are members of the Organization of the Francophonie only for 12 years, the Francophone tradition in our country has much deeper roots. At the same time, President Ivanov thanked the French Embassy and the French Cultural Center for their active role in the promotion of the French language in the Republic of Macedonia and noted that we should remain committed to its usage, which, as a language, indeed, is extremely important in the European Union.

During the visit, the Macedonian President visited the library of the Department of Romance Languages and Literature, one of the language laboratories and a dialogue of the play in French, prepared by students of the Department.