Credit: africaday.ie
Today, please join us to celebrate the 49th annual Africa Day. Africa Day is marked each year on May 25th since 1963 when Organization of African Unity, the forerunner of the African Union (AU), founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This year the theme of Africa Day is “Africa and the Diaspora”, which echoes the subject of the first Global African Diaspora Summit hosted in Johannesburg from May 23-25. Through the summit, AU encourages the African diaspora throughout the world to contribute to the development of the continent through investment. Each year, around $40 billion remittances are received by more than 25 million Africans from their families abroad. If these flows could be churned into investments in proper sectors (such as agriculture which accounts for 30–40% of Africa’s GDP, employs about 65% of its population, and generates 60% of its total export earnings) it will contribute substantially to raising growth, reducing poverty, and increasing food and nutrition security in the continent.
“Once seen as unpromising and overly risky, Africa is now one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging markets and an increasingly sought-after investment destination.” Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of AUC in his foreword in “Invest in Africa: Towards 50 Years of Progress and Development, 2012”.
Read more about the first Global African Diaspora Summit from AU’s website.