On 25th May 1963 Africa’s continental organisation, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created and to mark the occasion, 25th May was declared Africa Day and on 25 May 2023 we will be celebrating 60 years since the formation of the OAU which was later transformed into the African Union (AU). 60 years for some may seem far off, but when we look around us in our own families today, we have generations that not only lived through the pre-independence era but we look to them to remember our history and to learn about the journey that brought us to where we are today. It is this need to reflect on our past, not only as an organisation, but as Africans, that this edition of the AU Echo commemorates the 60th anniversary of the OAU / AU by presenting the speeches that were made by Heads of State and their representatives at the 1st Summit held in 1963 in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. Often due to the passage of time we may forget or even think that nothing said so many decades ago holds relevance today. Yet as one reads these speeches made in 1963, we are reminded of the courage and hope that those present, during that momentous occasion held for people all over the continent who were experiencing the joys of newly acquired independence or in the trenches fighting for freedom from imperialism, colonialism and apartheid; and we are reminded that the words spoken then still hold true today. Their words were the foundation upon which African Unity was laid. Their words were the blueprint for designing and implementing treaties, programmes and institutions that today mark the work that we must undertake to ensure that Africa’ is charting its own path by seeking African solutions for African issues and speaking with one voice on matters that affect the continent as well as how we are represented on the global stage. Their words also form the basis of the report card that we use to reflect on the progress we have made towards realising the vision of an integrated Africa; how much we have achieved and where we have fallen short and need to put greater effort so as to honour the memories and ambitions of those who saw the collective potential of our homeland Africa. Reflection on the words spoken 60 years ago will resonate even more as we implement the African Union’s Theme for the year 2023 on the Acceleration of the AfCFTA Implementation. A free trade zone for Africa was an idea that was mooted and supported in 1963. Our founders recognised that only through unified efforts and economic integration, would Africa take and own its place on the global stage; and as we make the various efforts towards ensuring that Africa realises it’s ambition to become a global trading powerhouse, we must recognise that just as envisioned in 1963, the success of the AfCFTA will depend on the implementation of other integration efforts which are captured in the African Union’s Agenda 2063 Flagship Programmes that promote regional, social, and economic integration such as the Single African Air Transport Market, the establishment of the African Financial Institutions (African Investment Bank and Pan African Stock Exchange; the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank), the implementation of game changing infrastructure projects that improve regional connectivity under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and most importantly underpinning them all, making it possible for people to travel, live and work in their own continent by fast-tracking the implementation of the African Passport and Free Movement of Persons. 60 years ago, our founders foresaw rightfully that only through integration and African Unity would the vision they hoped for Africa in 1963, and which is captured in Africa’s Agenda 2063 become a reality. In the words of his H.E Hubert Maga from his 1963 speech “...Despite affinities of blood and geography we are, still far too often strangers to each other. Certain frontiers, which ethnically do not exist, have in fact, by the rivalries they have engendered, turned into veritable chasms. Let us, therefore, fill these chasms, let us see to it that there is greater circulation of men, goods and capital among us, let us in a thousand ways strengthen the ties which unite us and, little by little, the feeling, still latent of belonging to one big family will, from Algiers to the Cape and from Dakar to Nairobi, become so strong and so evident that the organic union of the different African States will occur of itself.”