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
09-52320 4
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,
5 09-52320
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.
09-52320 6
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.