UNGA81: Mahama champions ‘pragmatic interdependence’ in global development -

President John Dramani Mahama has called for a new approach to international development cooperation. He said countries in the Global South must build the capacity to set and finance their own priorities. However, he stressed that this should happen while maintaining meaningful partnerships with the international community.

President Mahama made the call on Monday, September 21, 2026, in New York. He was speaking at a high-level side event on the Accra Reset during the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

His remarks came during the launch of A Sovereign Future for Health. The report was prepared by the Accra Reset High-Level Panel on Reform of the Global Health Architecture and Governance.

It proposes five broad shifts and 10 recommendations. The recommendations focus on stronger national capacity, regional cooperation and global public goods.

President Mahama said the Accra Reset was launched a year earlier in response to a changing and shrinking aid system.

He said the initiative rejects a development model that leaves people’s health, dignity and future heavily dependent on donor decisions. The President also reflected on the history of political independence.

He said political independence did not always give countries control over global trade, finance and health governance. President Mahama referred to the 1955 Bandung Conference.

Twenty-nine nations gathered at the conference to demand a stronger voice in international affairs. He said the issue of control remains relevant decades later.

According to him, countries are often expected to take ownership of development programmes while important decisions remain outside their control.

“For decades, nations of the Global South have been asked to own the results of health and development programmes, while others retain the control,” he said.

President Mahama then used an analogy to explain his concerns about the idea of “country ownership”.

“Fifty years later, in 2005, the world met in Paris and crowned ‘country ownership’ as the guiding principle of development cooperation. It was a pleasant phrase. But in truth, we were handed a broken cauldron; we were asked to own a soup cooked entirely in someone else’s kitchen!”

He said the Accra Reset offers a different approach. The approach is based on greater control, stronger accountability and increased productive capacity.

“Today, through the Accra Reset, we declare unequivocally that there can be No Ownership Without Control,” he stated.

However, President Mahama also stressed that greater control must come with greater responsibility.

He said countries must improve fiscal management, fight corruption and ensure that public resources are properly accounted for.

“If we demand control, we must earn it through uncompromising domestic accountability,” he said.

The President described this balance as the foundation of a New Global Bargain.

“This is the bedrock of our New Global Bargain; responsibility matched by authority; authority backed by real productive capability; and every partner held accountable for their promises,” he said.

President Mahama also made it clear that the Accra Reset is not a call for countries to withdraw from international cooperation.

Instead, he proposed what he called “pragmatic interdependence.”

Under this approach, countries would work together as equal partners while building their own capacity to produce, finance and manage essential services.

“Stronger, self-reliant Southern partners are not a threat to the Global North,” he said.

“On the contrary, resilient health systems in Africa and Asia make the entire world safer for all of us.”

The latest Accra Reset report proposes measures to support this approach.

These include sustainable health financing, stronger regional institutions, local health manufacturing, improved procurement and independent accountability.

President Mahama said the next phase would focus on implementation.

Ghana and the Presidential Council are expected to work with international partners to turn the recommendations into country-level compacts.

The President also called for partnerships with institutions in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Gulf and across Africa.

These partnerships will focus on building networks that connect research, regulatory oversight, local manufacturing and distribution.

President Mahama said the Accra Reset seeks to create a development model where countries have greater capacity to shape their own priorities while continuing to work with international partners.