- The Presidents of Ruanda and Senegal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EIB President Werner Hoyer met BioNTech-Founder UÄŸur Åžahin to discuss the development of vaccine production for Africa.
- BioNTech affirmed its intention to manufacture any vaccines arising from its development of vaccine candidates to fight malaria and tuberculosis on the African continent.
The announcement was made on Friday at the Compact with
Africa summit in Berlin.
"I'm confident that with today's meeting we can reach
the goal, even if it's step by step, starting with the setting up of
manufacturing units in Africa some time next year." Ugur Sahin, BioNTech
Président said at the summit.
Present at the summit were heads of state of Rwanda,
Senegal, Ghana, Guinea and Congo. The summit which is the third edition focused
on the state of trade cooperation between Germany and Africa.
"BioNTech stepped up and decided together with the
African partners and the European Commission to bring mRNA technology to
Africa, mRNA technology well known to fight Covid, but with a huge potential to
fight other diseases" Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European
Commission said.
Senegalese President Macky Sall in reaction to the backing
for vaccine production on the contient described it as historic " Today is
a historic day in our fight for access to vaccines, equitable vaccines in
Africa, as we have said."
University of Leipzig economist and Africa specialist Robert
Kappel estimates that about 1,000 German companies are active on the continent.
He also estimates that German companies have invested an
average of eight billion dollars in Africa in recent years.
"There could be a new government that is more
interested in Europe, in trade cooperation with China and the United States.
The African continent might not be at the heart of the next government's
concerns," says the economist bearing in the coming departure of the
German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Twelve African countries participated in the Compact with
Africa summit. At the last summit in 2019, critics had already asked to take
into account more countries in a continent with 54 countries.
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