This is a list of official languages for significant regional and international institutions. Different organisations sometimes refer to their principal languages of administration and communication as "working languages", whilst others refer to these as being "official". No distinction is made here, except where an organization itself, distinguishes between its official and working languages.
| Institutions |
Languages |
| Commonwealth of Nations |
English |
| Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) |
Portuguese |
| Francophonie |
French |
| International Criminal Court (ICC) |
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.[1] (English and French are working languages.[1]) |
| International Labour Organization (ILO/OIT) |
English, French and Spanish. |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF/FMI) |
English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Chinese and Russian.) |
| International Olympic Committee (IOC/CiO) |
English and French. Other working languages: Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic (the last two only during the annual Session.) |
| International Telecommunication Union (ITU) |
English, French and Spanish. |
| Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) |
French and English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into Spanish and Arabic.) |
| Latin Union |
Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish. |
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/OCDE) |
English, French |
| Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) |
Spanish and Portuguese. |
| Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC/OCI) |
Arabic, English and French. |
| United Nations (UN/ONU) |
Under the Charter, the official languages are Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish as well as Arabic which was added in 1973. [2]See also: Languages of the UN |
| Universal Postal Union (UPU) |
French (official), English (working). Other languages translated: Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, German. |
| World Bank (WB/BM) |
English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.) |
| World Trade Organization (WTO/OMC) |
English, French and Spanish. |
| Institutions |
Languages |
| African Union (AU/UA) |
French, Arabic, English, and Portuguese. See also: Languages of the African Union |
| Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) |
Arabic |
| Arab League |
Arabic |
| Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) |
English |
| Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) |
English |
| Caribbean Community (CARICOM) |
English |
| Central American Common Market (CACM) |
Spanish |
| Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) |
English, French and Portuguese. |
| Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) |
Russian |
| Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) |
Arabic |
| Council of Europe |
English, French. |
| East African Community (EAC) |
English, French and Swahili. |
| Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO) |
French, English and Portuguese. |
| Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) |
French |
| Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) |
|
| European Union (EU/UE) |
Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish. (English, French and German are the selected working languages of some internal EU bodies, such as the European Commission). See also: Languages of the European Union |
| Mercosur |
Portuguese, Spanish, and Guaraní. |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) |
English, French and Spanish. |
| Nordic Council |
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO/OTAN) |
English and French |
| Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) |
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian |
| Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) |
English |
| Organization of American States (OAS/OEA) |
English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. See also: The official languages of the Organization of American States |
| Pacific Islands Forum |
|
| Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) |
Chinese, Russian |
| South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) |
English |
| Southern African Customs Union (SACU) |
|
| Union of South American Nations (Unasul-Unasur) |
English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch |
