President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to serve as bridges for developing countries to access funds needed to fund long-term development.
He asserted that there must be political will in order to bridge the gap between the global north and south, highlighting the crucial work being done by the IMF under its current management to reorient itself to address the problems of its many constituent elements.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC 2023) in Germany last Friday, President Akufo-Addo echoed Mr. Michel’s prior appeal for international cooperation in times of crisis.
The MSC, hosted by the MSC Foundation, is an annual non-official government event that brings together high-level decision-makers from around the world to engage in intensive debates on current and future global significance.
They include Heads of State and Government, Ministers, leading personalities of international and non-governmental organisations, as well as high-ranking representatives of industry, media, academia, and civil society.
The conference’s discussions rightly focused on classic security risks that were returning to the international spotlight, such the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as non-traditional dangers like the climate crisis and issues of food and health security.
The President spoke at the Opening Town Hall Session of the 59th MSC 2023, titled: “Recalibrating the Compass: South-North Cooperation.”
He emphasised the critical role such cooperation plays at the international level during difficult times, as well as the difficulties that African countries face during global security threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which African countries were left to fend for themselves due to a lack of vaccine access.
He stated that developed nations’ resistance to providing vaccines to people outside of their borders during the pandemic was mirrored in their response to the harm the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was doing to the world’s financial and economic system and the degree to which Africans were left to fend for themselves.
President Akufo-Addo was invited to participate in the Opening Town Hall Session alongside other dignitaries such as Charles Michel, President of the European Council (EC), Bill Gates, Co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF.
On the sidelines of the conference, the President held separate bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ms. Kristalina Georgieva.
By Ernest Kofi Adu