25 May is Africa Day

In line with the African Union's theme for 2024: Educating African Youth for the 21st Century: Building Sustainable Education Systems to Enhance Access to Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa, Africa Day 2024 celebrations will focus on women in agriculture.

"The theme is perfectly aligned with Agenda 2063, the African Union's strategic programme for the socio-economic transformation of the continent," the AU said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his message, said the continent's young and growing population, its rich natural resources and cultural diversity offer great prospects for countries in the region.

"Initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area and the African Union Agenda 2063 can help realise this potential," the UN secretary-general said.

Ahead of the holiday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasised the strong ties with the African continent. Lavrov noted that it will grow by 30 per cent to about US$25 billion in 2023.

"We aim at more active development of co-operation in high-tech areas, including "peaceful atom", space exploration, digital technologies. Humanitarian cooperation is being developed, including health care and sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population. In April this year, Uganda hosted the first Russian-African international conference on combating infectious diseases, which will be held on a regular basis from now on"

Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister

With all fifty-four African countries now independent and in honour of the establishment of the African Union, Africa Day has become an occasion to celebrate Africa's diverse cultures, including music, art, fashion, unique fabric designs, dance, cuisine, sporting achievements and technological advances.

May 25th is Africa Day, formerly called African Freedom Day. It is the annual commemoration of the creation of the Organization of African Unity back in 1963, renamed the African Union in 2002. The OAU aimed to eradicate colonialism, foreign domination and exploitation, and encourage political and economic integration among member states.