LIBREVILLE, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba here Thursday presided over the opening session of the 33rd Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF), which is being attended by about 250 parliamentarians drawn from 40 countries.

    "I would like to see your conclusions and deliberations turned into laws and concrete actions to demonstrate the usefulness your meetings, as the credibility of this organization depends on this. Let us accomplish a good job," said the president, who was franked by Abdou Diouf, secretary-general of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) and Bernard Patry, speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF).

    During the occasion, the Gabonese president called on French-speaking countries to work for the enhancement of the protection of children.

    In his remarks, Diouf paid tribute to the Gabonese head of state for the role he played in the organization of the 33rd session of the APF. Saying 2007 marked the beginning of a new phase in the affairs of the organization, Diouf, who is also a former Senegalese president, spoke of the future of the group and the youth at length.

    "The youth are the future of this organization and I know the conviction with which they hold the values that we stand for. I also know that we must find ways of involving the youth in our activities very soon lest we see the flame burning in them extinguished," Diouf said.

    The Libreville meeting is coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the APF, which was founded in 1967, as the International Association of French-speaking Parliamentarians (AIPLF). The AIPLF was established through the efforts of former Senegalese president Leopold Sedar Senghor.

    The current ordinary session of the AP, which is slated to end Friday, will discuss various issues such as immigration, protection of individual liberties within the context of new technologies and the preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity.