24 October 2023 at ECA, Addis Ababa

• ➢  Your Excellency Antonio Pedro, Ag. Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa

• ➢  Your Excellency, Ambassador Mesganu Arega, Foreign Affairs State Minister, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

• ➢  Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Representatives of International Organisations

• ➢  African Union Colleagues,

• ➢  Ladies and Gentlemen

  It gives me great pleasure and honor to be able to address you here today on behalf of H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission who could not make it, on this auspicious day of the celebration of United Nations Day.

  This day provides an opportunity to highlight the UN’s successes, reflect on challenges while raising awareness of its aims and aspirations. It is no secret that in recent times our continent and the world as a whole has been plagued with challenges of different nature, more than ever our cooperation and solidarity are needed to continue to build a better world.

  Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  As we celebrate UN Day this year with this important theme of “Equality, Freedom and Justice for All”, it is our responsibility to:

• Ensure the freedom of women and girls and to bring equality and empowerment among the people and ensure human rights for all

• Develop humanity and to end war conflicts between Nations

• Create opportunities for all to enjoy a quality life

• Build resilience to climate change and achieve sustainable development

  The world is forever evolving and we must be able to evolve with it. We must always make room for innovation as it is critical to the future well-being of our continent and to drive economic growth. There should be an effort to keep strengthening our ways of working through the new world lens while being guided by our values and principles.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The African Union and the United Nations partnership is one rooted in the principles of complementarity and respect, and this can be underscored in our many areas of cooperation. It is demanded of us, based on emerging needs as we forge ever forward to attain our shared goals and vision as embodied in the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s Agenda 2030, that building on our comparative advantages, remains a fundamental aspect of strengthening our complementarity on operational support matters.

On this important day, let us promise to continue to expand on our joint forces to achieve our goals and aspirations.

I take this opportunity on behalf of the AUC Chairperson and myself, to amplify the unwavering support and cooperation of the African Union to continue to strengthen our partnership and our joint commitment to build the Africa we Want.

Thank you for your kind attention!