UNIS/SGSM/1316
24 May 2023
We mark Africa Day at a time when cooperation and solidarity to advance the continent’s future is more needed than ever.
Africa’s dynamism is unstoppable; its potential is breathtaking, from the vibrancy of its huge number of young people to the possibilities of free trade. The African Union has designated 2023 the year of the African Continental Free Trade Area. When fully established, the world’s largest single market could lift 50 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, driving progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.
I look forward to African governments continuing to seize the opportunities presented by the continent’s natural, human, and entrepreneurial richness, by working to increase private investment and raise resources at home.
And I urge the international community to stand with Africa. Currently, historic and economic injustices hamper its progress. Multiple crises – from COVID to climate and conflict – continue to cause great suffering across the continent. African countries are underrepresented in global governance institutions, from the Security Council to the Bretton Woods System, and denied the debt relief and concessional funding they need.
Africa deserves peace, justice and international solidarity.
The continent should be represented at the highest level of the international financial system. Multilateral Development Banks should transform their business models and leverage funds to attract massive private finance at reasonable cost to developing countries. Developed countries should provide the support they have promised for action on climate change, and go further. And we must support efforts to silence the guns across the continent.
The United Nations will continue to be a proud partner in advancing peace, sustainable development and human rights for the people of Africa.
With international cooperation and solidarity, this can be Africa’s century.
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"In a world plagued by conflict and division, World Press Freedom Day highlights a fundamental truth: Freedom for people depends on freedom of the press." — António Guterres
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and Singapore’s national space office, the Office for Space Technology & Industry of Singapore (OSTIn), have agreed to collaborate under the "Space Law for New Space Actors" project.
Brazil signed the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the "Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships") at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 17 April 2025.
"Together, let's get to work and make 2025 the year we restore good health to Mother Earth." — António Guterres
