United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, has revealed that she is “getting ready to leave Ghana”.
The American Diplomat who is completing her three-year tour of duty in Ghana will soon be replaced, although it remains unclear what her next Assignment at the Department of State will be, given her immense 36-year diplomatic career.
According to the United States Embassy in Ghana, Ambassador Palmer, before assuming her post in April 2022, served as acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources at the Department of State, overseeing U.S. foreign policy engagement at the critical intersection of our energy, climate and national security goals.
She also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malawi from 2015 to 2019. There, she oversaw an annual bilateral assistance budget of more than $500 million and the work of eleven U.S. government agencies.
As Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in South Africa from 2011 to 2014, she oversaw the work of 28 U.S. government agencies. As Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam from 2008-2011, she promoted major trade initiatives and helped shape new U.S. dioxin (Agent Orange) remediation efforts.
From 2005-2008, Ambassador Palmer was the State Department’s Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, responsible for terrorist finance issues and regional initiatives to strengthen partner nations’ capacity to degrade terrorist capability. From 2004-2005, she was Director of the East Asia Bureau’s Office of Economic Policy and the alternate U.S. Senior Official for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC).
Other postings include assignments in Kenya, Canada, Zimbabwe, China, and Hong Kong working on political-military affairs, corruption, trade and agriculture, labor and human rights issues, health and development.
Speaking in an interview on Luv FM in Kumasi, where she revealed the end to her tour of duty, Ambassador Palmer noted: “I am so sad to leave, I have such respect for Ghana. I should talk about that first and the thing I most respect about Ghana is tolerance.
“I have served 40 years in our Foreign Service and more than 20 years in Africa and I have never seen interfaith relations that are as vibrant and as real and is respectful as seen in Ghana and the same is true for inter-ethnic relations and I think both things are a source of stability for Ghana and that’s the bedrock for prosperity”.
The last few days, Ambassador Palmer’s attachment to Ghana-US relations came to the fore when U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to sign executive orders authorising sweeping tariffs on many countries exporting to the American market.
Although many termed the development as fulfilling for the smooth relations between both countries, Ambassador Palmer, on the contrary, intimated that Ghana remains an important ally, despite recent changes in her country’s international trade relations.
“No matter what the change in language, how we express it, or the change in focus, Ghana is a really important partner of the United States and will continue to be so. The United States is behind Ghana’s economic recovery through institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, as well as American business interests. There’s going to be a big trade mission, which I can’t announce yet, but it’s coming,” she stated.
