President addresses the United Nations General Assembly today | General news

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will take the podium today in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Hall at the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, United States.

This will be the fifth time he has addressed the United Nations General Assembly as President, having already done so four times as President during his first term.

Today’s address is the first of his second term as President.

In all previous speeches, President Akufo-Addo has stepped onto the podium in person, with the exception of 2020 when, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global body resorted to technology to s ‘address the worldwide fellowship from the comfort of their offices.

Problems

When he takes the stage at the 76th United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters, located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, the president is expected to address two thorny issues facing the world – ending the COVID-19 pandemic and redefining the post-pandemic economy.

President Akufo-Addo is also likely to reiterate his clear call to the developed world to see the urgent need to ensure a more equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among all nations, regardless of their economic strength, to deal with the growing threat of the virus, which has mutated.

Still on the pandemic, the president is expected to be a strong advocate for countries like Ghana which have shown promising indications of manufacture or replication of some of the vaccines and are also putting themselves in a good position to deal with future virus outbreaks.

Seen as the game changer, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Accra, is likely to find a place in the president’s speech because he has always maintained that trade, not help, is the wand that will uplift Africa. from its current state to a developed state.

Africa hardly contributes to global warming, yet it is the target of the devastating effect of greenhouse gas emissions. In view of this unjust natural event, President Akufo-Addo will pressure his fellow world leaders to step up activities to reverse the trend.

As President of ECOWAS, he should advocate for support in the fight against insurgents who are destabilizing countries in the bub region.

The president will plead, in the same vein, in favor of support for the fight to eradicate piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, which remains the global piracy hotspot in 2021, according to the latest figures from the International Maritime Bureau.

Ghana and Nigeria are playing a leading role in the fight.

He expected President Akufo-Addo, who is the co-chair of the Group of Eminent Advocates for the SDGs, to address the need for reforms at the United Nations, in particular the composition of its Security Council.

Address 2020

In his 2020 speech, the President raised the question of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s lives and the benefits of technology in these difficult times.

He also raised the need to restructure the global finance architecture to allow access to new capital for developing countries, as well as a call to reform the global body to reflect Africa’s common position on UN reform, as articulated in the Ezulwini Consensus. .

He further ensured the global organization of transparent, free, fair, secure and credible elections in Ghana in December of the same year, adding that “at the end of the elections, we will be proud of ourselves, Africa will have good reason to be proud of us, and the rest of the world will find lessons to be learned from us. “

President Akufo-Addo and his entourage left the country last Friday.

Prior to today’s speech, he had engaged with some organizations, including addressing the 2021 SDG Moment on the “Decade of Action” last Monday.