Egypt's embassy in Berlin celebrates 'Africa Day'

BERLIN - 26 May 2018: The Egyptian embassy in Berlin held a significant ceremony on Thursday evening to celebrate the 55th anniversary of “Africa Day”, in commemoration of the foundation on 25 May 1963 of the Organization of African Unity which has been known as the African Union since its name change on 25 May 2001.

The celebration was organized upon an invitation by Egyptian Ambassador in Berlin Badr Abdel Aati, a move that made the embassy the first African one in Berlin to host the “Africa Day” ceremony.

The celebration was attended by a raft of senior German officials, alongside African and Arab ambassadors accredited to Germany.

Addressing the event, the Egyptian ambassador expressed pleasure that Egypt is celebrating the “Africa Day’, citing President Abdel Fatah El Sisi’s remarks at the African summit in 2014 in which he said that “Egypt does not only belong to Africa due to history and geography, but also because of a common destiny and unity of goals”.

Abdel Aati affirmed Egypt’s commitment to support the joint African action as well as to implement the 2063 Agenda that was endorsed by the African Union AU, for the purpose of guiding Africa's development in the next fifty years.

Abdel Aati told MENA that the march of the African action has witnessed a qualitative leap, that was embodied in March when more than 44 African countries, including Egypt, signed an agreement on establishing a free trade area.

“Africa eyes building real partnerships, rather than engaging in relations with donors”, he said, noting that Egypt will seek achieving such objective during its presidency of the AU.

Egypt is set to receive the AU's presidency in January 2019.