Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has been named Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on October 25, 2024.
In a post on X by the official handle of the Secretariat, , the minister was selected by the Commonwealth Heads of Government at the meeting.
“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 post read.
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. pic.twitter.com/hVUvTqlt1D
— The Commonwealth (@commonwealthsec) October 25, 2024
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is the successor to the outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland Baroness Scotland of the United Kingdom.
Nonetheless, the election took place at the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, the capital city of the Pacific Island nation of Samoa.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who is a lawyer, a diplomat and a politician, was in the race with two other African candidates, namely Senator Joshua Setipa of Lesotho and Dr Mamadou Tangara of the Gambia.
The meeting will be the first full Commonwealth summit held since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the first to be presided over by King Charles III as Head of the Commonwealth.