President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has repeated his call for self-reliance while delivering a speech at a conference in the Republic of Serbia on Monday, 11th October 2021.
Mr Akufo-Addo has been calling on countries especially in Africa to be strive and reduce their reliance on developed countries for help.
In Ghana, he introduced the Ghana Beyond aid initiative to ensure that this agenda materializes.
Delivering a statement at the plenary session of the Conference in Serbia on Monday October 11, he He bemoaned the fact that member states of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) have become global power play, and are subject to the benevolence of powerful countries, who give out their hoarded supplies at their own pace, not necessarily in tandem with realities.
“The need for self-reliance today in the global south is as important as positive neutralism was in the era of the Cold War. The impact of the pandemic on our populations has been severe. We must stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and be resolved to ensure that we are better prepared for future pandemics,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “We must not miss the opportunity of this occasion to take far-reaching decisions for a more equitable and balanced world, based on the principle of the equality of sovereign States. We should continue to work towards the global objectives of peace, development and inter-dependence.”
He further indicated that since the days of Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, one of the five (5) historic founding fathers of NAM, Ghana has remained a faithful adherent of its principles, i.e., respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of States, non-interference in the domestic affairs of States, and non-aggression against States.
“We believe that the strength of this Movement is determined not just by its numbers, but, more significantly, by the attachment to the principles that founded it.,” the President said.
President Akufo-Addo stated while recounting the words of Ghana’s first leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, at the 1961 Conference in Belgrade, who bemoaned the hesitance of the world’s super powers to disarm, that “60 years later, the great powers have not disarmed, neither has the threat of nuclear war receded. They are still as powerful as they were then, and this has been highlighted by the COVID pandemic, and the unsavoury politics of vaccine nationalism we are currently witnessing.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
