The United Nations (UN) has commended Ghana for making steady efforts towards the realisation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
“The SDGs have become the DNA of Ghana,” the President of the UN General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said when she visited President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra last Friday.
She commended President Akufo-Addo for making the SDGs the centre of his administration’s public policy efforts and indicated that the UN was hopeful that Ghana would achieve the targets.
She said the flagship programmes of the government such as the One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, Free Senior High School, indicated that the country was on course of achieving the SDGs.
“Everything that you are doing to improve the lives of Ghanaians really needs to be commended,” she said and added that the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda of the government was also worth commending.
She said Ghana had given examples of how countries could use the SDGs to transform a country and improve the quality of life of its citizens.
Madam Garces said the fight for global peace was the heart and soul of the UN and noted that Ghana, for several decades, had contributed to that course.
“Ghana has contributed to building peace in so many areas around the world,” she said
President Akufo-Addo, on his part, said Ghana’s involvement and attachment to the UN would continue to deepen.
He extended his gratitude to the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Gutterez for reposing confidence in him, by extending his mandate for the second time as co-chair of the SDG Group of Eminent Personalities.
“I am committed to the SDG vision. It is a global vision that we all should buy into and work to achieve. That is very much part of our synergy here,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo expressed the government’s commitment to make Ghana economically independent by building a country free from aid and charity from development partners.
“Essentially, we believe that we have the resources in both human and material terms to be able to pull ourselves up by our own energies,” he said.
He said the goal of the government was not to cut the country from the rest of the world but to engage the world through trade and investments, “and not on the basis of our hands out, seeking charity”.
BY YAW KYEI
