Africa Month: UAE ambassador pledges to expand ties, people-to-people contact with Africa
Pretoria - As South Africans joined fellow Africans in celebrating Africa Day, with the entire month of May dedicated as Africa Month in South Africa, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Mahash Saeed Alhameli has pledged support and partnership for the continent.
The month of May in South Africa commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, which later morphed into the African Union (AU).
Alhameli hosted an Africa Day event at the UAE embassy in Pretoria, which was attended by several dignitaries including president of the Pan African Parliament, Chief Fortune Charumbira who is also president of the Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs and Ambassador of Libya to South Africa, Dr Ing Abdulkadir Ahmed Alnour.
He said the UAE has vested interest in the developmental agenda of the African continent.
“Within the context of the African Union’s 2023 theme for Africa Day which is ‘Africa-Opportunities in Challenging Times’, the UAE would like to take this opportunity to wish the African continent a happy Africa Day and further recommit ourselves to continue walk side by side with the continent to ensure that we turn today’s challenges to opportunities,” said Alhameli.
“The UAE has vested interest in developmental agenda of the African continent and that was witnessed when the UAE took the AU observer membership in 2011.”
Having been ambassador of the UAE to South Africa, also accredited to Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia for over five years, Alhameli said he has had opportunities to engage with different African leaders, and gained “a better understanding of the challenges” that are bedevilling the African continent.
“As such, the UAE will continue to strengthen its partnership with Africa by expanding our collaborations in all the areas of mutual interest as guided by our foreign policy priorities for Africa,” said Alhameli.
“As a friend to the African continent I would once again like to wish the continent peace and prosperity.”
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said celebrating Africa Day is to remind Africans of the resilience they possess and to celebrate its unity in its pursuit to overcome even the greatest of difficulties.
Ramaphosa said Africa Day also served as a reminder of the responsibility everyone shared to bring about an Africa that is peaceful, prosperous and united.
Ramaphosa was joined by many other government and African dignitaries to celebrate Africa Day at the Cradle of Humankind, where some of the earliest human ancestors once walked.
Evoking Africa’s admirable resilience, Ramaphosa said that conquest, colonialism, slavery, apartheid and the many acts of barbarism directed against Africans throughout history did not stop Africa from prevailing.
IOL