Mr. President,

Permit me to join previous speakers in congratulating you on your election as President of the 64th Session of the General Assembly.

Your long and distinguished service to your country and Africa gives us the confidence that we are in experienced and capable hands.

I also wish to express my delegation’s appreciation to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, for the able manner with which he presided over the 63rd Session of the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

This year marks the centenary of the birth of an illustrious son of Ghana and Africa, our first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, under whose leadership Ghana became a member of the United Nations on March 8, 1957, only two days after achieving Independence.

We recall Dr. Nkrumah’s proclamation before this august body on 23rd September, 1960, during the 15th Session, that “the United Nations was the only organization that holds out any hope for the future of mankind.”

It was at the same session that he also called for the reform of the Security Council in order to bring it in line with a rapidly changing world.

More than forty years have since passed, and those views remain relevant.

Mr. President,

Then, as now, Africa faced deep crisis with profound and far-reaching implications for international peace and stability.

Today, the combined effects of climate change, high food and energy prices and the current financial and economic crisis threaten to erode the modest but hard earned economic growth and democratic achievements of the last two decades.

Africa remains volatile, and violent conflicts still persist.
Therefore, we must all support the United Nations and its regional allies, such as the African Union, to live up to these and other pressing challenges facing the international community.