On Friday, February 2, 2024, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, will give a public lecture titled “A Vision for a New Commonwealth in a Fast-Evolving World.”
The lecture will be held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the Council on Foreign Relations—Ghana (CFR-Gh).
Under the leadership of one of Ghana’s most shrewd diplomats, Ambassador DK Osei, CFR-Gh is an independent and nonpartisan think tank.
Botchwey, the leading diplomat for Ghana, is a politician, lawyer, and communications specialist. Since January 2017, she has held the position of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. In addition, she is a member of the National Security Council.
Botchwey’s vast diplomatic experience began during President John Kufuor’s second term, when she held the position of deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration from 2006 to 2009.
She had previously held the positions of deputy minister for both trade and industry and information.
In addition to serving as Foreign Minister, Botchwey presided over the ECOWAS Council of Ministers for two terms in a row, from 2020 to 2022, representing the 15 member states.
She was a politician who represented the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in opposition from 2009 to 2013 as its spokesperson on foreign affairs.
She was the ranking member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and later the Appointments, Defense, and Interior Committees of Parliament during that same period.
A four-term lawmaker, Botchwey served two terms (2004–2012) as the representative of Weija, the most populous constituency in the nation, in the Greater Accra Region before it was redistributed.
After that, she served two terms as a representative for Anyaa/Sowutuom (2012–2020). The foreign minister served on the Parliamentary Committees on Communications, Gender, and Children during the most recent session of parliament, which ran from 2017 to 2021.
She also held the position of Vice-Chair on the NEPAD and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Committees while serving as a member of the ECOWAS Parliament from 2013 to 2017.
As part of its esteemed distinguished lecture series, CFR-Gh has welcomed a number of well-known figures from around the world, such as Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate; Amina Mohammed, the UN deputy secretary general; and Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, the president of Ecuador during her time as the UNGA.
