Mahama to Lead First Accra Reset Davos Convening at World Economic Forum

President John Dramani Mahama is set to chair the first Davos convening of the Accra Reset on January 22, on the margins of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, marking a significant step in the Global South–led initiative’s international engagement.

The high-level meeting will bring together current and former leaders from Africa and other regions of the Global South to deliberate on new models of international cooperation at a time of mounting global uncertainty.

President Mahama serves as Chair of the Presidential Council of the Accra Reset, an initiative designed to enhance sovereign capacity and reframe global collaboration in response to a rapidly evolving international order.

Expected to join him at the Davos session are President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, President William Samoei Ruto of Kenya, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria will be represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, while Prime Minister James Marape will attend on behalf of Papua New Guinea.

The meeting will also feature a distinguished group of former Heads of State who make up the Guardians Circle of the Accra Reset, including President Olusegun Obasanjo, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Beyond dialogue, the Davos gathering will formally launch a set of priority programmes, following the initiative’s debut at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly and its subsequent endorsement by leaders at the G20 Summit in Johannesburg.

Organisers say the Accra Reset is being advanced at a time of deepening global strain, characterised by intensifying great-power rivalries, the weakening of traditional aid frameworks, escalating trade tensions, and overlapping crises including climate shocks, cost-of-living pressures, pandemics, and armed conflicts.

Against this backdrop, the initiative seeks to equip Global South countries with stronger tools to navigate interconnected economic, political, and social challenges.

President Mahama has consistently positioned the Accra Reset as a natural extension of his domestic reform vision, the Resetting Ghana Agenda, underscoring the relationship between internal national reforms and the pursuit of fairness in the global system.

“Effective national governance requires both internal reforms and a more equitable international system,” the President has argued.

In a statement issued by the Minister for Government Communications and Presidential Spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, President Mahama reaffirmed that sovereignty goes beyond political independence.

According to the statement, sovereignty “means the capacity to execute national visions while building strategic partnerships—particularly within Africa and across the Global South—that advance shared and mutual interests.”