Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Foreign Minister of Ghana, was elected Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, the capital of Samoa, a Pacific Island nation.
The 61-year-old seasoned diplomat was up against fierce opposition from two other African candidates: Mamadou Tangara, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Gambia, and Joshua Phoho Setipa, the former trade minister of Lesotho.
“Today at #CHOGM2024, Commonwealth Heads of Government have selected the Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, currently the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana, as the incoming Secretary-General of the Commonwealth,” the Commonwealth shared on X on Friday (25 October).
She succeeds Baroness Patricia Scotland, a dual citizen of the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom, whose second and last term ends at the end of 2024.
With almost 20 years of experience in governance and diplomacy, including her position as Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration since 2017, Botchwey has had a career of consistent progress.
She is well-known for her progressive ideas that have revolutionized Ghana’s diplomatic services, creating the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) to improve the working environment and skill set of Ghanaian diplomats.
