In the opening ceremony attended by more than 500 parliamentarians coming from 80 countries around the world, the participants were addressed by the Parliament Speaker of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Mars Di Bartolomeo, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie Aubin Minaku, Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF) Michaelle Jean, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri. He reminded the attending that La Francophonie was founded in Luxembourg in 1967, today a respectable international organization and one of the most important global forums which is an unavoidable factor of parliamentary cooperation on all five continents.

On the first day of the session, IOF Secretary-General Michaelle Jean presented the Report on last year’s activities, followed by an address by Martin Chungong Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Michelle Sidibe, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and UNAIDS Executive Director. Steve Gentili, Chairman of the Francophone Business Forum then briefed the attending on his organization’s activities.

On the second day of the session the participants spoke about the “Linguistic, cultural and identity differences”. The session ended by the adoption of a Resolution of the APF Political Commission and Women’s Network.

At the margins of the session, the Head of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to APF Jadranka Jovanovic met with the Madagascar Parliament Speaker Jean Max Rakotomamonjy, Quebec Parliament Speaker Jacques Chagnon and the Speaker of Parliament of Cape Verde Jorge Pedro Mauricio dos Santos. She briefed them on the Serbian National Assembly’s participation in the APF and the delegation’s readiness to contribute to the Parliamentary organization’s activities.

In the ceremonial part of the programme which included numerous operatic arias, the Head of the National Assembly’s delegation to APF Jadranka Jovanovic joined the festivities at the great pleasure of the attending. The Parliament Speaker of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Mars Di Bartolomeo publicly thanked her for the performance.