President Akufo-Addo has affirmed the Government of Ghana’s support for the landmark Pact for the Future, which includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.

This comprehensive initiative addresses critical issues such as peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation, human rights, gender equality, youth engagement, and the needs of future generations.

Addressing the Summit of the Future, held on the sidelines of the 2024 United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in New York, President Akufo-Addo called for urgent, collective action to address pressing global challenges.

“No nation can tackle these issues alone. We must stand together in solidarity,” he said, urging global leaders to resolve to adopt the Pact for its effective implementation since “history would judge us not by our words but by our actions.”

“The world is watching; the future is watching. We cannot be the generation that stood by as the world burned, while inequality widened and promises of justice went unfulfilled.”

The Pact, among others, recognises that the well-being of the current and future generations, as well as the sustainability of the planet, rests on the willingness to act.

“We recognise that our efforts to redress injustice and to reduce inequalities within and between countries to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies cannot succeed unless we step up our efforts to promote tolerance, embrace diversity and combat all forms of discrimination,” the document avers.

The Pact notes that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

“We cannot achieve our shared ambitions for the future without addressing these challenges with urgency and renewed vigour.

“We are committed to ensuring that the multilateral system can turbocharge our aspirations to deliver for people and the planet, and we will place people at the centre of all our actions,” states the document.

President Akufo-Addo emphasized the importance of addressing climate change, inequality, and reforming the United Nations Security Council and related bodies.

“Africa, while contributing the least to global emissions, is bearing the heaviest burden, and it is time for fairness, not charity. Let us seize this moment and commit to building a more just and equitable future for all,” he pleaded.

Among the issues under discussion at the UN General Assembly are accelerating sustainable development and reforming decades-old institutions, including the Security Council and the international financial system.

The idea is to render the United Nations, the multilateral system, more effective in the fulfilment of its mandate, making it more participatory, and more networked.