French Cultural Center for Battambang

A new French cultural center will be built in Battambang City after the signing of an agreement with French officials, according to provincial governor Chan Sophal. Mr. Sophal told Khmer Times yesterday that he was made aware of the decision to build the new center during an official visit to the Languedoc–Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées region in France last week. Guillaume Cros, vice-president of the region, told him the French government was interested in strengthening ties with the Cambodian province. The two officials then signed an agreement putting the plan in motion.

“To strengthen our friendship between the two provinces, the French government will build a new French cultural center in our city,” Mr. Sophal said. During his trip, the governor and Mr. Cros also signed bilateral cooperation agreements on agriculture, renewable energy, cultural heritage, education, social affairs and economics. Battambang will receive support from the French government in those areas, Mr. Sophal said.

Battambang is already home to an Alliance Francais, whose primary function is as a language center. A second language center, in Siem Reap, and a third, larger, Institut de Francais in Phnom Penh, round out the French government’s main educational institutes in the Kingdom. The centers “play a key role in the cultural, artistic and educational cooperation between France and Cambodia and promote French literature, movies and language as well as ideas and knowledge,” according to the French Cultural Center website.