Guangzhou city officials, together with diplomats from various African countries, will celebrate the city’s first ever 'Africa Day,' which will be hosted by Guangzhou's African consulates general on May 24 according to GDToday.
Africa Day (formerly called African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day) commemorates the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963, which is now called the African Union (AU). The day is celebrated in all of the AU’s member countries, as well as in other parts of the globe.
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Government officials from nine Chinese provinces, foreign members from the diplomatic corps and African residents of the city will all take part in the upcoming celebration.
As a major global center for trade and manufacturing, Guangzhou has been steadily attracting a large community of African merchants, students and entrepreneurs since the 1990s. The city’s deputy mayor told reporters in 2014 that while the official number of African residents at the time was only 16,000, annual entries and exits by African nationals at Guangzhou border crossings numbered close to half a million.
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Diplomatic representation from African countries in the city has also grown steadily over the past decade. In 2009, Guangzhou had only one African consulate general. Today, there are 10 consulates general from African countries including Angola, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.
[Image via GDToday]
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