Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, will on Friday, February 2, deliver a public lecture to mark the Fifth Anniversary of the Council on Foreign Relations -Ghana (CFR-Gh) at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The lecture, on the topic: ‘A Vision for a New Commonwealth in a Fast-evolving World’, is being organised by the Council.
CFR-Gh is an independent and non-partisan think tank, with Ambassador Daniel K. Osei, one of Ghana’s most astute diplomats, as its President.
A release issued by CFR-Gh, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Council had hosted many global personalities as part of its prestigious and distinguished lecturer series including Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey, who will deliver this year’s lecture, is Ghana’s top diplomat, a lawyer, communications professional and politician.
She has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration since January 2017.
She is also a member of the National Security Council.
Madam Yorkor Botchwey’s extensive experience in diplomacy dates back to the second term of former President John Kufuor, when she served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration from 2006 to 2009.
She had previously served as Deputy Minister of Information, and for Trade and Industry.
As Foreign Minister, Madam Ayorkor Botchwey also chaired the Council of Ministers of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for two successive terms from 2020 to 2022, the release said.
As a politician, she served as the spokesperson on Foreign Affairs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) between 2009 and 2013, while the Party was in opposition.
During the same period, she held the position of Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and subsequently, the Appointments, Defence and Interior Committees of Parliament.
A four-term legislator, Madam Botchwey represented the most populous constituency in the country, Weija, in the Greater Accra Region for two terms (2004-2012) until it was redemarcated.
She subsequently represented the Anyaa/Sowutuom Constituency for two terms (2012-2020).
In the immediate past Parliament (2017 – 2021), the Foreign Minister sat on the Communications as well as the Gender and Children Committees of Parliament.
She was also a member of the ECOWAS Parliament from 2013 – 2017 and served as Vice-Chair on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Committees.
Among the Council’s many global personalities are Madam Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces of Ecuador when serving as President of the UN General Assembly.
Source: Ghana News Agency