51茶馆

Your Excellency the Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with the Commonwealth at the Ministry of External Relations of the Republic of Cameroon, your Excellency the Minister of Communication, Members of the Senate, Members of the National Assembly, Traditional Chiefs, Captains of Industry, honoured guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen.

Unlike most countries we do not have a national day. After all whose national day would we celebrate ? The Welsh St David鈥檚 Day on 1 March ? St Patrick鈥檚 Day on 17 March in Northern Ireland ? St George鈥檚 Day in England commemorating killing the dragon on 23 April ? Or the Scottish St Andrews Day on 30 November ? Of course we celebrate all of those. But there is a special unifying focus to the diversity that is our United Kingdom and I am delighted to welcome you this evening to the Queen鈥檚 Birthday Party.

C鈥檈st bien s没r un anniversaire tr猫s sp茅cial. La Reine a 90 ans, et en mars cette ann茅e a pass茅 le point o霉 elle a r茅gn茅 plus longtemps que tout autre monarque britannique pr茅c茅dent. Au Royaume-Uni il y a quelques semaines il y avait une f锚te d鈥檃nniversaire pour la Reine au ch芒teau de Windsor avec 900 chevaux, 1500 artistes et un g芒teau si grand qu鈥檌l a d没 锚tre remorqu茅 par une Land Rover. Nos arrangements ce soir sont bien sur plus modestes, mais je vous promets qu鈥檌l y aura un g芒teau - et nos jeunes artistes, certes moins nombreux qu鈥櫭� Windsor, sont de l鈥櫭ヽole de musique 鈥淟鈥檃bre 脿 musique鈥� et je suis s没r qu鈥檌ls vont nous divertir royalement.

At 90 years old your memories go back a long way. To take some examples: in 1940 Queen Elizabeth, then 14 years old, made her first radio broadcast to lift the morale of children who were being evacuated at the beginning of the Second World War. Since then the Queen鈥檚 reign has spanned 7 popes, 12 Prime Ministers including Winston Churchill, and the creation of the Commonwealth. Often said but true - she has been a constant in a changing world. Amazingly she has never expressed an opinion officially in public. And yet she has dedicated herself to serving her people. Most would agree she has done this spectacularly well and has been a force for good both for the United Kingdom, in her support to the Commonwealth, and around the world.

Et je n鈥檜tilise pas le mot 芦force禄 脿 la l茅g猫re. Nous parlons parfois de 芦soft power禄 鈥榣a puissance douce鈥�. Ce que nous avons assist茅 脿 mon avis, est le succ猫s spectaculaire de 芦soft power禄 , influencer , guider , aider , partager , et de fournir un guide moral pour nous aider 脿 travailler ensemble pour cr茅er un avenir dans lequel nous esp茅rons que nos enfants seront plus s没rs , plus sains , mieux 茅duqu茅s, plus prosp猫re , et surtout plus heureux . Comme nous sommes confront茅s 脿 des d茅fis de taille de la croissance d茅mographique insoutenable, la pression sur les services de sant茅, les m茅galopoles, les migrations, les p茅nuries d鈥檈au et les changements climatiques, il est de plus en plus clair que d鈥檈ssayer de forcer les gens 脿 faire des choses ne marche pas. Il faut les aider 脿 voir, 脿 comprendre et 脿 travailler ensemble pour cr茅er un meilleur avenir. Nous devons leur donner les outils, l鈥櫭ヾucation et l鈥檃mbition pour s鈥檃m茅liorer eux-m锚mes et leur environnement.

I am not going to go through a long list of things that the United Kingdom has done this past year in Cameroon. Suffice to say we have worked tirelessly with many partners here to help feed and house refugees, to boost the economy through attracting investors, to help fight against terrorists, and to promote human rights. But above all, the one thing that I should like to highlight is the 24 young people, men and women, who we are sponsoring to study for a year in the UK at Masters level all expenses paid, and for the 20 women we are paying to study in Cameroon, and the support we have given to the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme. In total each year we are now helping around 60 Cameroonians to a better education. We will support the same number next year and ask for your support in encouraging, bright, energetic Cameroonians who you think can help create a better future for the country, to apply.

Looking ahead to the coming year, we will be working even more closely with British businesses, many of whom are here tonight and to whom we are grateful for their support to this event. A country needs economic success as a foundation to progress. We all know Cameroon has huge potential. Together we will continue to work in partnership with the government of Cameroon and our partners from the international community, to help realise a better future.

Thank you.