The Embassy of the Republic of Angola in Ghana on Friday announced programme of activities to mark centenary celebration of the first President of the country late Dr Antonio Agostinho da Silva Neto in Accra.
The one-week celebration is on the theme “Angolans holding hands for the future” and will begin from September 10 to September 17, 2022, to be attended by dignitaries from the diplomatic missions, international organisations, public institutions and members of the Angolan community.
At a short ceremony to announce the activities for the occasion, João Baptista Domingos Quiosa, Ambassador of Angola to Ghana, stated that the celebration would kick off with a football tournament dubbed ‘Agostinho Neto Cup to be hosted on September 10, 2022 at Burma Camp and an exhibition of Dr Antonio Agostinho Neto books and photographs on September 12, 2022, at the Angolan Diplomatic Mission in Accra.
Mr Quiosa said other activities include conference, a lecture on the life and works of late President Dr Neto at the University of Ghana, Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy Hall, followed by Angola music and dance festival and a poetry recital competition of the resident community.
The late President, according to the Ambassador, was a Pan- Africanist poet, writer and an iconic politician with a mission to seek the welfare of all Angolans as a country and to unite all Africans as one big family.
He stressed that the Late President held firmly the ideologies of the first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, and other great African leaders who fought for liberation and a united Africa with a common goal of liberation.
For Angolans, Mr Quiosa said the 100 years celebration of the late former President was a big achievement and remembrance for his sacrifice in seeking the welfare of all, in terms of resources and properties on Angola land.
The Ambassador said in terms of bilateral relations, late Neto believed in the unity of Africa’s for a common goal of liberation in all African-continent, especially in South Africa and other African countries where there was severe oppression.
He commended the establishment of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) office in Accra-Ghana to strengthen the global affairs of all countries and stressed on the need to use the office as a platform to develop and promote common market to the benefit all African countries.
BY VICTOR A BUXTON
