EU announces €150bn investment program in Africa | News from Germany about Europe | DW

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The two-day summit of the European Union and the African Union (AU) ended on Friday, February 18, in Brussels, with the adoption of a declaration on a “Joint vision for the period up to 2030”. It provides for “a renewed partnership for the sake of solidarity, security, peace and sustainable and lasting economic development and prosperity for our citizens and our future generations.”

For jointly solving global problems and accelerating vaccination

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Brussels that there are “a number of problems that we must tackle together.” According to him, these are climate protection, global health, rules-based multilateral order, peace and security, population migration. “Europe and Africa can answer the main questions of our time only together.”

The final document adopted at the EU-AU summit provides, in particular, for the EU to allocate 425 million euros to Africa in order to accelerate vaccination campaigns against coronavirus. Brussels also reaffirmed earlier commitments to finance vaccination. Meanwhile, issues related to vaccination, as well as intellectual property, caused controversy in the forum.

For accelerated access to medicines

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked Europe for the help, but his latest call to suspend patent rights to facilitate vaccine production went unanswered. “And we’re talking about the lives of millions, hundreds of millions of people, not the profitability of a few companies,” Ramaphosa said. In his opinion, “it is unacceptable that Africa is constantly at the end of the line when it comes to access to medicines.”

His position received support from civil society. For example, as ONE’s Africa Executive Director Edwin Ikhuoria said, “Unfortunately, the results of the summit are very disappointing in many places. Why have we been arguing about the suspension of patents for two years now?” Meanwhile, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (Ursula von der Leyen) said that the goal is technology transfer.

Compulsory licensing “could be a bridge,” says the manuscript of her speech at the event with Ramaphosa. It was also announced the upcoming launch of an investment package of at least 150 billion euros, intended, in particular, for the development of infrastructure in Africa. It also includes expected private investment.

For the fight against illegal migration, for peace and security

With regard to the problem of migration, among other things, it was decided to fight against illegal migration. At the same time, the final declaration provides for the strengthening of the asylum system. There was also criticism from the civil society. The continued focus on curbing migration shows that Africa’s priorities are not being taken seriously, according to the European branch of the Catholic charity Caritas.

The EU and the AU also committed to continue cooperation in the area of ​​peace and security. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Thursday that he would send a mission to Mali to assess whether the country is counting on cooperation with the EU after France announced the withdrawal of its peacekeepers. The transitional government of Mali was not represented at the summit.

The summit was attended by EU Council President Charles Michel, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, AU President and President of Senegal Macky Sall, AU Commission President Moussa Faki Mahamat, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

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