President Hage Geingob says today Africans, including those in the Diaspora, are to celebrate the achievements of the African Union as an enduring continental body.

President Hage Geingob noted that the African continent and its people face a number of challenges, which would require collective efforts to achieve the dream of Agenda 2063 of the Africa We Want.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister in the Presidency, Christine ||Hoebes, during the official celebration of the AU's 60th anniversary, Dr. Geingob says Namibia holds the AU in high esteem for its role in the liberation of Namibia.

"Namibia, therefore, benefited from the continent's solidarity and support to fight against colonialism and apartheid.  Africa has achieved political freedom, which was the necessary first condition for the subsequent pursuit of economic freedom and development, as stated by the great African statesman, Kwame Nkrumah, in his classical speech at the founding of the OAU on May 24, 1963, in Addis Ababa: 'The social and economic development of Africa will come only within the political kingdom, not the other way around'."

The Head of State further emphasised the importance of pursuing economic emancipation for the entire continent.

Africans also need to enhance governance architectures in the interest of the continent and its people.

"This is the new order on our continent, and although we admit that there have been reversals in certain instances, the positive outcome is that wherever such incidents have taken place, the African Union, supported by respective Regional Economic Communities (RECs), has ensured that perpetrators of undemocratic ascendance to power are ostracised. This is the New Africa, an Africa that believes in constitutional order where processes, systems, and institutions are central to the governance architecture."

The AU theme for 2023 is "Acceleration of the AfCFTA Implementation".