Ghana
Statement by Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Director-General of the National
Development Planning Commission and Senior Economic Adviser to the
President of Ghana at the 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable
Development (HLPF) General Debate on the theme, “Ensuring that no one is left
behind,” New York, 19 July 2016.
Mr. President,
I wish to congratulate you for convening this meeting and to thank you for the
opportunity to deliver Ghana’s statement. I also wish to assure you of Ghana’s
support and commitment to the success of our deliberations.
My delegation aligns itself with the statements delivered by the distinguished
representative of Thailand on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and the
distinguished representative of Tunisia on behalf of the Group of African States.
I also bring you warm greetings from President John Mahama of Ghana who,
along with the Prime Minister of Norway, is the Co-chair of the group of sixteen
(16) eminent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates to support the
Secretary-General in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to
achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Mr. President,
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 coincided
with two significant processes in Ghana. 2015 was the second year of Ghana’s 4-
year medium-term plan of 2014 to 2017. It was also the year that Ghana began
developing a long-term national development plan, or framework, to guide the
preparation of 10 medium-term plans after 2017. The first medium-term plan will
run from 2018 to 2021 and the last and 10th one will coincide with the centenary
anniversary of Ghana’s independence in 2057. That is a total of 40 years with the
objective of transforming Ghana into a high income country from a lower MIC.
In addition to the 2030 Agenda, Ghana is obliged by virtue of its membership of
the African Union to incorporate the first ten years of the AU’s Agenda 2063 into
our national development agenda. We have already outlined how this would be
done in a coherent and robust manner to ensure that Ghana can periodically
report on progress to the UN and the AU, respectively, within the context of its
national development agenda.
We are using what we call the Triple-A Strategy of Alignment, Adaptation, and
Adoption in cooperation with the private sector and civil society.
Under alignment, we are working with national and sub-national authorities to
determine the extent to which their existing development priorities accord with
the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
In this regard, the Coordinating Unit on SDGs in Ghana is carrying out a national
dissemination and sensitization exercise for key stakeholders and government
officials on SDGs. In addition, government officials are being trained to align their
sector plans with the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
Adaptation allows us to modify and localize the targets of the two agendas and
incorporate them into our long-term national development plan. And, under
adoption, we merely transfer the targets of the two Agendas into our long-term
national development plan without any modification. Efforts at establishing the
relevant indicators of progress are also ongoing.
The First Step of Agenda 2063 is 10 years, while the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development is 15 years. We have two other frameworks, namely the National
Spatial Development Framework (2015-2035), which is 20 years and will help
improve human settlements planning and management, and the National
Infrastructure Plan (2018-2047), which is 30 years and will cover a wide range of
public, private and civic infrastructure, including schools, sewerage systems,
railways and recreational facilities in every community in Ghana.
We view structural reforms as critical preconditions for the successful
implementation of our national development agenda. The three dimensions of
these reforms are: legislative and legal reforms; policy reforms; and institutional
reforms aimed at removing mandate overlaps and conflicts to make government
efficient and more responsive to the needs of a growing population and a
changing society with correspondingly growing expectations.
I am happy to report that even before we have completed the long-term national
development plan, our Parliament and government have begun work on these
very important reforms.
We hope to be able to provide more details on our work at subsequent forums on
both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063.
I thank you for your attention.
Development Planning Commission and Senior Economic Adviser to the
President of Ghana at the 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable
Development (HLPF) General Debate on the theme, “Ensuring that no one is left
behind,” New York, 19 July 2016.
Mr. President,
I wish to congratulate you for convening this meeting and to thank you for the
opportunity to deliver Ghana’s statement. I also wish to assure you of Ghana’s
support and commitment to the success of our deliberations.
My delegation aligns itself with the statements delivered by the distinguished
representative of Thailand on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and the
distinguished representative of Tunisia on behalf of the Group of African States.
I also bring you warm greetings from President John Mahama of Ghana who,
along with the Prime Minister of Norway, is the Co-chair of the group of sixteen
(16) eminent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates to support the
Secretary-General in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to
achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Mr. President,
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 coincided
with two significant processes in Ghana. 2015 was the second year of Ghana’s 4-
year medium-term plan of 2014 to 2017. It was also the year that Ghana began
developing a long-term national development plan, or framework, to guide the
preparation of 10 medium-term plans after 2017. The first medium-term plan will
run from 2018 to 2021 and the last and 10th one will coincide with the centenary
anniversary of Ghana’s independence in 2057. That is a total of 40 years with the
objective of transforming Ghana into a high income country from a lower MIC.
In addition to the 2030 Agenda, Ghana is obliged by virtue of its membership of
the African Union to incorporate the first ten years of the AU’s Agenda 2063 into
our national development agenda. We have already outlined how this would be
done in a coherent and robust manner to ensure that Ghana can periodically
report on progress to the UN and the AU, respectively, within the context of its
national development agenda.
We are using what we call the Triple-A Strategy of Alignment, Adaptation, and
Adoption in cooperation with the private sector and civil society.
Under alignment, we are working with national and sub-national authorities to
determine the extent to which their existing development priorities accord with
the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
In this regard, the Coordinating Unit on SDGs in Ghana is carrying out a national
dissemination and sensitization exercise for key stakeholders and government
officials on SDGs. In addition, government officials are being trained to align their
sector plans with the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
Adaptation allows us to modify and localize the targets of the two agendas and
incorporate them into our long-term national development plan. And, under
adoption, we merely transfer the targets of the two Agendas into our long-term
national development plan without any modification. Efforts at establishing the
relevant indicators of progress are also ongoing.
The First Step of Agenda 2063 is 10 years, while the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development is 15 years. We have two other frameworks, namely the National
Spatial Development Framework (2015-2035), which is 20 years and will help
improve human settlements planning and management, and the National
Infrastructure Plan (2018-2047), which is 30 years and will cover a wide range of
public, private and civic infrastructure, including schools, sewerage systems,
railways and recreational facilities in every community in Ghana.
We view structural reforms as critical preconditions for the successful
implementation of our national development agenda. The three dimensions of
these reforms are: legislative and legal reforms; policy reforms; and institutional
reforms aimed at removing mandate overlaps and conflicts to make government
efficient and more responsive to the needs of a growing population and a
changing society with correspondingly growing expectations.
I am happy to report that even before we have completed the long-term national
development plan, our Parliament and government have begun work on these
very important reforms.
We hope to be able to provide more details on our work at subsequent forums on
both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063.
I thank you for your attention.
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