Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama has called for resource sovereignty to become a central part of the development agenda, warning against a global economic system that leaves developing countries exporting raw materials while importing finished goods.
Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, President Mahama said political independence has greater meaning when countries have the economic capacity to determine and pursue their own national priorities.
“Political independence is more meaningful when it is accompanied by the economic capacity to pursue national priorities. Resource sovereignty must be at the heart of our development agenda,” he said.
President Mahama said countries in the Global South should not accept an economic structure in which they continue to export raw materials and import finished products.
“We cannot accept a global order in which countries of the Global South remain exporters of raw material and importers of village goods, while our people bear the environmental and social costs of extraction,” he said.
His remarks place resource control and economic independence at the centre of Ghana’s call for a fairer international economic order.
President Mahama said the Non-Aligned Movement has an important role to play in advancing the economic interests of developing countries, including through stronger cooperation on development, finance, trade, debt and technology.
He also called for greater coordination among member states to strengthen the collective voice of the Global South in the international system.
His call comes within his broader argument that the principles that shaped the Non-Aligned Movement must be adapted to the economic and developmental realities facing countries today.
He said the pressures confronting developing nations now include economic vulnerabilities and unequal access to finance and technology, alongside renewed geopolitical competition and climate change.
For Ghana, he said, greater economic capacity is essential if political sovereignty is to translate into meaningful national development.
President Mahama therefore urged the Non-Aligned Movement to strengthen collective action and ensure that its principles produce practical benefits for the people of member states.
