Ghana to take Accra Reset agenda into AU policy discussions- President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana will use its upcoming chairmanship of the African Union (AU) to advance the Accra Reset agenda in continental policy discussions.

Ghana is expected to assume the AU chairmanship in January 2027, giving the country an opportunity to place issues including health sovereignty, self-reliance and reforms in global development cooperation on the continental agenda.

Speaking at the “Full Circle: Making Global Development Work Again” side event of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mahama said Ghana would work to integrate the principles of the Accra Reset into Africa’s broader policy framework.

“As Ghana prepares to assume the chair of the African Union next year in January 2027, I assure you we will carry this Accra Reset agenda into the heart of Africa’s collective policy framework,” he said.

President Mahama said Ghana would also work with the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 Plus to promote reforms that give developing countries greater capacity to determine and finance their own development priorities.

The Accra Reset was launched in New York a year ago as a platform aimed at addressing challenges confronting countries in the Global South, including geopolitical vulnerability, marginalisation and dependence on external development financing.

According to President Mahama, the initiative seeks to strengthen domestic productive capacity, financial resilience and national control over critical sectors while maintaining international cooperation based on equality.

He stressed that the agenda was not about isolating countries from the global system but about creating what he described as “pragmatic interdependence”, where countries engage as equal partners.

“Stronger, self-reliant southern partners are not a threat to the global North. On the contrary, resilient health systems in Africa, Asia, and South America make the entire world safer for all of us,” he said.

The President said health was selected as an initial focus of the Accra Reset because of its importance to human development and the vulnerability of health systems to external shocks and financing pressures.

He also pointed to the recently launched A Sovereign Future for Health report, which contains 10 recommendations for reforming global health governance, as a framework for advancing the initiative.

President Mahama linked the continental initiative to Ghana’s domestic Resetting Ghana Agenda, which seeks to strengthen fiscal management, governance, industrial capacity, local value addition and public health systems.

He said international and continental reforms must be accompanied by stronger accountability at the national level.

“There can be no ownership without control,” he said, while stressing that greater control must also come with accountability to citizens.

With Ghana preparing to take up the AU chairmanship, President Mahama said the country would seek to move the Accra Reset from international discussions towards practical continental action, with emphasis on building stronger and more resilient systems across Africa.