"This day should be very well marked, especially in Europe. We have a responsibility of our own to associate with Africa on this day because the two continents are neighbors, partners and indispensable to each other so that the economic, demographic, peace and security of both are properly faced and overcome ", affirmed Santos Silva.
The head of Portuguese diplomacy, who was speaking in a message about Africa Day, which was marked this Tuesday, reaffirmed the "absolute diplomatic priority" given by Portugal to the partnership between Europe and Africa and recalled that the first summits between the European Union and Africa were held under Portuguese presidencies.
"In this presidency of the Council of the European Union, we have made concrete progress, substantially, with new partnerships with Africa," he said.
The minister noted, in this context, the organization, in Lisbon, of the Europe / Africa green investment forum, considering that he "gave a new emphasis" to the need for the two continents "to cooperate closely in the green transition, in investment, in growth and in prosperity based on the new engines of development ".
Portugal has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union since January and has expressed, on several occasions, the willingness to organize the next European Union-Africa summit, postponed to 2020, but the lack of dates for the meeting to date, it should make it unfeasible until the end of the Portuguese mandate, in June.
May 25 marks the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, and has been proclaimed as Africa Day.
This year, the date has as its motto "Arts, Culture and Heritage as Levers to Build the Africa We Want".
In May 1963, as the struggle for independence from colonial rule gained strength, leaders of independent African states and representatives of liberation movements came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to form a united front in the struggle for total independence from the continent.
From the meeting came the letter that would create Africa's first post-independence continental institution, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), predecessor of the current African Union.
The OAU advocated a united Africa, free and responsible for its own destiny.
In 2002, the OAU was replaced by the African Union (AU), which reaffirmed the objectives of "an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its citizens and representing a dynamic force on the world stage".
Africa Day was also marked by the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who highlighted the "six decades of a strengthened partnership" with the continent.
"The United States (USA) deeply values the US-AU partnership in seeking to strengthen democratic institutions, promoting lasting peace and security, boosting economic growth, trade and investment, and promoting health security in Africa and the world "wrote Blinken on the social network Twitter.
The president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also on Twitter marked the passage of the 20th anniversary of the birth of the AU.
"Today, more than ever, our determination for a better tomorrow, of peace, unity and shared prosperity, must not waver. It remains our greatest strength," he wrote in a message in English. "The fight continues," he added in Portuguese.
The AU is made up of 55 member states, including the Sahrawi Arab Republic, recognized by the organization, and the Portuguese-speaking African countries: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.
