Accra’s diplomatic spotlight has shifted, at least for the week, to Manhattan. President John Dramani Mahama departed Ghana on Saturday, September 19, heading into a packed schedule at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to speak on development reform, Africa’s global standing, and the long-running push for reparatory justice.
This year’s UNGA carries the theme “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All,” with the marquee General Debate running from September 22 to 28.
Monday, September 21 brings one of the trip’s signature moments — a high-level event built around the Accra Reset, titled “Full Circle: Making Global Development Work Again.” The gathering will pull together heads of state and global policymakers to wrestle with a familiar but urgent question: how to make the international development system actually work for the countries it claims to serve, especially across Africa and the wider Global South.
Two days later, on Wednesday, September 23, Mahama shifts focus to a cause he has championed on the global stage for months as the African Union’s designated reparations lead: a side event titled “From Commitments to Action on Reparatory Justice: Advancing International Cooperation for the Return and Restitution of Cultural Properties and Heritage.”
This session builds directly on momentum Ghana has been building since earlier in the year — from the UN resolution recognizing the enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity, to June’s Next Steps Conference in Accra, which produced three new international bodies: a High-Level Advisory Council on Reparatory Justice, a Global Experts Panel on the Restitution of Cultural Heritage, and a Global Legal Panel on Reparatory Justice.
The New York event is expected to serve as a checkpoint — a moment for those panels to report progress and push the conversation from declarations toward concrete action.
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The centerpiece of the visit lands on Thursday, September 24, when Mahama delivers Ghana’s official statement to the full General Debate — the address most likely to shape global headlines and set the tone for how Ghana positions itself internationally this year.
Mahama’s calendar in New York stretches well past the UN’s walls. He is scheduled to meet with fellow world leaders, the UN Secretary-General, and executives from major multinational corporations. In a nod to Ghana’s economic diplomacy push, he will also ring the NASDAQ Closing Bell and join a US-Ghana Presidential Roundtable hosted by the US-Africa Chamber of Commerce — both aimed squarely at courting investment and reinforcing Ghana’s business credentials on Wall Street.
Rounding out the itinerary: an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations and participation in the Ocean Panel Leaders’ Meeting.
Before wrapping up the trip, Mahama will hold a Town Hall with the Ghanaian community in New York on Friday, September 25 — a chance to speak directly to citizens abroad about his administration’s development agenda and hear their concerns firsthand.
The President traveled with First Lady Lordina Dramani Mahama, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, several Cabinet ministers, and senior officials from the Presidency.