Ghana, 2009

I bring very warm greetings

from the people of Ghana. Allow me to join previous

speakers in congratulating the President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on his election.

His long distinguished service to his country and to

Africa gives us confidence that we are in experienced

and capable hands. I also wish to express my

delegation’s appreciation to his predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, for the

able manner in which he presided over the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session.

Last Monday, 21 September, Ghana celebrated

the centenary of the birth of an illustrious son of Ghana

and of Africa, our first President, Mr. Kwame

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Nkrumah, under whose leadership Ghana became a

Member of the United Nations on 8 March 1957, only

two days after achieving independence. We recall

Mr. Nkrumah’s declaration before the General

Assembly on 23 September 1960 that the United

Nations was the only organization to hold out any hope

for the future of mankind. At the same session, he

called for the reform of the Security Council in order to

bring it in line with a rapidly changing world. Those

views were expressed almost 50 years ago, but they

remain relevant.

Then, as now, Africa faced a deep crisis, with

profound and far-reaching implications for

international peace and stability. Today, the combined

effects of climate change, high food and energy prices

and the current financial and economic crisis threaten

to erode the modest but hard-earned economic growth

and democratic achievements of the past two decades.

Africa remains volatile, and violent conflicts still

persist. Therefore, it is my humble proposal that we all

support the United Nations and its regional allies, such

as the African Union, in living up to those and to the

other pressing challenges facing the international

community.

While we acknowledge that globalization has

expanded and accelerated economic interdependence

among States, the truth is that the benefits for many

developing countries have been negligible. Indeed, the

economies of many developing countries have not been

transformed in any significant manner. Despite almost

a decade of impressive growth of about 5 per cent, only

a few countries have been able to reduce the proportion

of their population living on less than $1 per day.

Consequently, most of those countries remain

vulnerable to the various external shocks that continue

to pose threats to their growth.

In fact, over-reliance on high commodity prices

and mineral exports has not lessened, but rather

exposed structural impediments to food security. That

is particularly true of sub-Saharan Africa, where the

ongoing world financial and economic crisis threatens

to erode decades of modest growth, and thereby make

the Millennium Development Goals unattainable in any

meaningful way.

Ghana, therefore, reiterates its support for global

integration that ensures inclusive and equitable

development and also leads to a substantial reduction

in poverty, including full and productive employment

and broad access to social services.

A number of developing countries have adopted

various measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis on

their economies, including interest rate reductions,

recapitalization of financial institutions, trading

reforms, and increased liquidity to banks. Ghana has

also exercised fiscal restraint in response to the crisis,

by cutting out all low-priority public spending and

shifting the balance from recurrent expenditure to

infrastructure investment.

In addressing the impact of the crisis on their

economies, African countries would like to see the

following: rich countries making a greater effort to

meet existing commitments on aid and debt reduction;

the acceleration of disbursements and improved access

to existing financial facilities; the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) being urged to put in place a

new facility with relaxed conditions to help African

development during this crisis period; a capital

increase for the African Development Bank to enable it

to scale up its interventions in support of African

development; the sale of IMF gold reserves to release

more resources to help African development during

this period; and finally, the issuance of new Special

Drawing Rights.

International trade carries enormous potential for

poverty reduction and alleviation as well as for driving

economic growth so that millions of our people can be

lifted out of the quagmire of poverty. The ongoing

Doha Round of trade talks promises, at least in

principle, to improve market access for poor countries.

This commitment, in our view, is very important,

especially in low-skill and labour-intensive sectors

such as garment manufacturing, from where most

African exports come.

Sustained economic growth requires that poor

countries increase their exports to rich countries.

Unfortunately, the current system of trade

discriminates against poor countries, hinders their

participation in the global economy and damages the

earning potential and opportunities of rural

communities in those countries.

These developments do not work in the interest of

our developing countries. Indeed, trade-distorting

subsidies, as well as tariff and non-tariff barriers

instituted by most advanced countries, discriminate

against African products. Developing countries,

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including Ghana, though we accept that liberalization

is, indeed, required, believe that liberalization must be

accompanied by predictable access to markets,

elimination of the abuse of anti-dumping measures as

well as the reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

In the face of all these developments, we in

Africa acknowledge and recognize that all our efforts

to achieve social and economic development will not

yield much result unless we demonstrate our

commitment to good governance. In spite of the

difficulties and challenges, I can say without fear of

contradiction that, leaders across the continent have

embraced democratic values, except in a few cases

where narrow self-interests are threatening the

commendable gains that we have made in the past

decade.

We are also confronted with the grave risks to

environmental, social and economic development

posed by climate change. The need for concrete, timely

and decisive measures to enable us to deal with this

largely man-made problem is obvious, and meeting

that need must not be deferred any longer.

As we proceed to the United Nations Climate

Change Conference scheduled for December 2009 in

Copenhagen, the issue of financing mitigation and

adaptation to climate change in developing countries

will remain central to the deliberations. In fact,

progress on these issues will be crucial in determining

any outcome in Copenhagen.

The intrinsic link between security and

development has been generally recognized by the

international community. Despite the pivotal role

played by the United Nations in identifying the threats

confronting the international community and

marshalling the necessary international support to deal

with those challenges, humanity’s hope and aspiration

for a peaceful and prosperous world are weakened by a

litany of unfulfilled promises and failures.

Rather than being discouraged by these

shortcomings, we in Ghana are unwavering in our

conviction that, though daunting, the challenge to the

community of nations could be surmounted through

innovative, bold, and achievable measures.

Peacekeeping operations have played a pivotal

role in the Organization’s efforts to fulfil its core

mission of maintaining international peace and

security. Ghana, as one of the oldest and most

consistent troop-contributing countries, deems it a

matter of privilege and honour to be associated with

this success story of our Organization. We equally

acknowledge that increasing demands have placed

further strain on an overstretched system.

It is for this reason that we applaud and renew

our support for the reform process that is in place and

also acknowledge the fruitful dividends that have come

out of it, even though we admit that much more needs

to be done if we are to achieve our objectives.

Ghana cannot but commend the growing

cooperation between the United Nations and regional

organizations. We call for its intensification to enable it

to take advantage of the cooperative strength of the

United Nations and regional organizations in a

mutually complementary manner.

Next year marks the fifteenth year since the

adoption, at the Fourth World Conference on Women,

of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. In view of the

huge gap between policy and practice and the

unyielding progress in implementing that international

convention on gender equality and the empowerment

of women, it is our suggestion that we need to take a

coherent, integrated and multisectoral approach to this

problem.

Over the years, Ghana has demonstrated its

commitment to implementing in an accelerated manner

the goals of the Beijing Platform for Action, and we

have done so by adopting concrete administrative,

legal and constitutional means. Our efforts have

yielded some measure of success, as clearly testified to

by the appointment of our first female speaker of

parliament, the first female attorney-general, and quite

a number of female ministers and deputy ministers.

At its sixty-third session, the General Assembly

adopted resolution 63/194, urging us to improve our

efforts and join the international initiative against

human trafficking and for the protection of victims. We

in Ghana concur with those who view the elaboration

and adoption of a United Nations global plan of action

as an effective and practical way to give life and effect

to the international initiative against this despicable

crime. It is our expectation that the President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session will make

this an urgent and priority issue. I can assure him of

Ghana’s commitment and support.

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In conclusion, I note with regret that conflicts,

particularly in the developing world, have robbed us of

an opportunity to improve the circumstances of our

peoples. Indeed, it is well known that sustainable

development can only be achieved in an international

environment characterized by peace and stability.

We in Ghana therefore want to take this

opportunity to renew our commitment to the ideals of

the United Nations and to fulfil our Charter obligations

by joining together with other Member States to assist

the United Nations in playing its role in the

maintenance of international peace and stability and in

the promotion of fruitful international cooperation. We

are convinced that the United Nations remains the ideal

multilateral instrument for achieving international

peace and security and promoting fruitful international

cooperation. I would therefore want all of us to

strengthen our resolve and muster the necessary

political will to assist the United Nations to more

effectively discharge its obligation to redeem our

peoples from war, disease and poverty.

We in Ghana have pledged to build a better

Ghana. We therefore want to assist the United Nations

to build a better world. May God bless us in all these

efforts.