President John Dramani Mahama interacted with a cross section of the Ghanaian community in New York on his second day in New York for the 71st United Nations General Assembly.

Those in attendance at the reception which was attended by the First Lady, Lordina included the executives of the National Council of Ghanaian Associations, representatives of the Ghanaian clergy, executives of the Yankasa Muslim group, Association of Ghanaian Lawyers, members of the business community, executives of the UNSRC, a club of Ghanaians working with the United Nations as well as some women groups.

Other dignitaries present were Foreign Affairs Minister Hannah Serwaa Tetteh, Interior Minister Prosper Bani, Secretary to the President Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, Lt.Gen. Joseph Henry Smith, Ghana's Ambassador to the United States and Mrs. Martha Pobee, Permanent representative to the United Nations.

Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, United Nations Representative for West Africa also graced the event, which was put together by the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN in honour of the President and members of his delegation to the UN general assembly.

During the interaction, President Mahama said so far the process for the election at home has been going on well, despite all the disagreements that normally characterize such campaign periods.

Assuring of a smooth,peaceful, transparent and fair elections,he noted that Ghana's electoral system provides all the safeguards for a clean and fair elections, saying that " the results are declared at the polling station levels, after all the results have been tallied in the presence of the representatives of all the candidates and signed".

Commenting on the world-wide economic challenges and unfavorable commodity prices, President Mahama said that the "Ghanaian economy was on track as the government has been able to maintain the necessary fiscal discipline with its expenditure, despite various pressures that occur during election years.

He pointed out that so far his administration has "been operating on a zero government financing".
This, he said meant that "every government expenditure is paid from our own revenue", declaring that "with this discipline, the Ghanaian economy is now robust than in the past. Any growth that we have is sustainable".

Considering the current trends, President Mahama predicted an economic growth above eight per cent next year, "if we add what we are expecting from oil and gas".

To this end, the he charged all Ghanaians to do all they can to sustain the economy and to support the country.

Ambassador Pobee expressed the hope that God will crown all the efforts of President Mahama with resounding success.

pictures by Geoge Azirigo