The President of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, H. E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés has commended Ghana for her commitment to multilateralism and efforts towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs).
H. E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés made this known when she addressed a Joint Press Conference with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey(MP) on Wednesday, 8th May 2019 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
She lauded Ghana for supporting the United Nations (UN) in various areas over the years and added that her four day official visit to the country is to help strengthen the ties between the country and the United Nations. She added that, she is seeking to raise awareness on the importance of multilateralism and the role of the United Nations in addressing major global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development among others.
H.E. Espinosa Garcés stated that in line with the theme of the current session of the United Nations General Assembly, which is “Making the UN Relevant to All; Global Leadership and shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies,” the key approach for her Presidency is to ensure that the United Nations is inclusive and relevant to all. She also indicated that she is intensifying efforts in the seven priority areas of her work which are decent work, persons with disability, gender equality, environmental action, migration and refugees, revitalization of the UN and youth, peace and security.
For her part, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey(MP) thanked H. E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés for visiting Ghana as part of her West African tour to foster engagement with relevant national stakeholders on issues of relevance to the UN and to bring the organisation closer to the people.
She maintained further that the visit offered a unique opportunity to showcase Ghana’s commitment to multilateralism. She pointed out that
Ghana had an enviable record in all aspects of the work of the UN, particularly within the areas of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights. “Ghana has some key achievements particularly in the implementation of the SDGs” she added.
The Minister stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who is a co-chair of the SDGs advocates had mainstreamed the SDGs into Ghana’s national budget as well as the medium and long term development plans. She stated Ghana was making a lot of progress in the areas of women empowerment and poverty reduction, through social interventions programmes such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
She commended H. E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés for her commitment to gender parity, migration, refugees, youth and protection of the environment and assured that Ghana would continue to contribute her quota to the success of the United Nations agenda.
