He was met on arrival by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Service Chiefs, the Chief of Staff, the ministers of Information, Defence, National Security, Interior, Aviation, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as some senior government officials.
Whilst at the meeting, the President gave an inspiring speech on a new Africa that is ready to surmount its numerous challenges to be self-sufficient and to take its rightful place on the world stage.
“We believe it is time Africa comes of age and holds its rightful place on the world stage. This Africa will be neither a victim nor a pawn. This Africa will be honest to itself and to the world, and this Africa will shed its cloak of poverty, and become prosperous.
“We are not under any illusions about the hard work that it will take to achieve our stated goals, but we are not afraid of hard work. We know that a critical ingredient in making sustainable economic progress is to ensure a stable democratic system of governance”.
On Ghana specific, the President told the world how his government has initiated policies that would soon transform the economic fortunes of the people and make the country prosperous. “We want to build a Ghana which looks to the use of its own resources and their proper management as the way to engineer social and economic growth in our country. We want to build an economy that looks past commodities to position our country in the global marketplace”.
The President also used the platform to push the agenda for reforms within the world body to deepen and promote international cooperation, peace and security, saying, “We cannot continue to preach democracy and fairness around the world, we cannot insist on peace and justice around the world, when our global organisation is not seen by the majority of its members as having a structure that is just and fair.”
The President,together with eight other African leaders, held talks on US-Africa relations with the American President, Donald Trump.
He also met with other world leaders, and investors as well stakeholders in the Cocoa arena.
The President also on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly, received the 2017 Africa-America Institute’s (AAI) National Achievement Award on behalf of Ghana and its people. The award was in recognition of Ghana’s status as a free and democratic country in Africa.
Briefing a section of the media after the arrival of the President at the Kotoka International Airport, Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said President Akufo-Addo and his Ivorian counterpart,Alhassan Quatarra, met at the sidelines of the meeting and pledged to abide by the judgement of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the maritime dispute between both nations.
In furtherance of this, a delegation from Ivory Coast is expected in the country in the course of the week to finalize arrangements on the ruling.
<<Print>>