Accra, March 20, GNA - Mr Jean-Michel Berrit, the French Ambassador to Ghana, has called for co-operation and respect among various communities and cultures to create a better world and ensure unity. He said: "Once we know and respect others, we can go beyond the simplistic vision of a clash of civilization to try to build a common project together". Mr Berrit was speaking at a reception to mark the ninth Francophone Week celebrations in Accra on Friday.

He said: "We Francophones strongly believe in diversity of language and culture and encourage it.

We aim at linking cultures, which are living bodies. We strive to enrich each of them through open dialogue and insist on the need to exchange, to share, to know each other....Bridges have to be built, openness and tolerance are key towards better understanding".

Mr Berrit said there was the need for strengthening solidarity. adding that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was serving as a common platform for a shared understanding through diversity of cultures.

Fifty-Six Francophone states and governments all over the world observe the week.