Ghana to host interim Accra Reset Secretariat - Former President Obasanjo announces at G20 summit
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said it is time for African countries to re-engineer their economies from dependency to trade and investments.
He said the recently announced Accra Reset initiative represented a fundamental shift in development philosophy, moving away from "an economy of dependency" created by aid and loans.
The former President was speaking at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week.
Mr Obasanjo announced that Ghana would host the interim secretariat of the Accra Reset.
The establishment of the secretariat in Accra signals a new phase for the initiative, which President Mahama had championed as a vehicle for ensuring that global governance reforms were "co-created, not imposed; negotiated with fairness, not inherited from history."
Commendation
He commended President John Dramani Mahama's transformative leadership in reshaping global development cooperation.
Speaking on behalf of President Mahama, who is spearheading the Accra Reset initiative, Mr Obasanjo acknowledged the fact that the Global South-anchored platform had expanded its circle of leaders to include more than two dozen former heads of state and international organisation leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
He explained that the initiative aimed to transform development cooperation into a system that was "country-led, regionally empowered, and globally coherent," a departure from decades of top-down approaches that had characterised North-South relations.
Context
A high-level panel is being convened to prepare a report on restructuring global governance, to be submitted to a commissioning authority composed of heads of state from the Global North and Global South.
Mr Obasanjo praised South Africa's G20 Presidency under President Ramaphosa for advancing priorities that aligned closely with the Accra Reset mission, including a more equitable global financial architecture, global health resilience, fair technology partnerships, and widening Global South participation in multilateral decision-making.
"The Accra Reset stands ready to work closely with the G20," Mr Obasanjo said, positioning the platform as "connective tissue interlinking the public, private, and civil factions of Global South societies."
Objectives
The initiative further seeks to transition international development "from endless aspirational targets to workable business models that drive real and durable change," reflecting President Mahama's pragmatic vision for economic transformation across the Global South.
"President Mahama extends his deep appreciation to H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose leadership has guided this G20 cycle with clarity, courage, and profound commitment to justice," Mr Obasanjo said.
He conveyed special greetings from the Ghanaian leader, who also serves as the AU Champion for Reparations.
