Former Ghana Ambassador to India, Sam Pee Yalley, has said that most African countries have not given much attention to their foreign policies and that has greatly cost them their development.
According to him, as developing countries, it is imperative that we strengthen our foreign policies in order to secure certain important things such as funds from international organizations for development.
Speaking in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he said: “Many African countries have turned their foreign policies upside down but just as the other policies, foreign policy should be the key economic policy that we must pay attention to.
This is because being a developing country, we are not operating on our own. We are operating under global policies. We are operating under UN policies. We are operating under ECOWAS and AU policies. Such policies give us the direction as to what we can do and what we cannot do”.
Exemplifying his point, he added: “For example in Ghana, whatever you say you want to do, if you are not a member of an international organization like the World Bank or the IMF, you may not get your funding and all these are based on your foreign policy directions”.
Amb. Sam Pee Yalley advised African countries to make it their resolve to strengthen their foreign policies in order to promote development. “International relations is a very important dimension of development most African countries are overlooking but it is important that we go back to it”, he added.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
