Africa Financing Summit in Paris Ends With Calls for Funding, Vaccines
Voice of America
PARIS - A Paris summit on supporting African nations hard-hit by COVID-19's fallout wrapped up Tuesday with sweeping calls for massive financial and vaccination support for Africa — and a broader sea change in relations between donor nations and the continent.
French President Emmanuel Macron called earlier for a new deal for Africa. Among the goals he and other leaders outlined were doubling COVID-19 vaccination targets for Africa by the end of 2021 under the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme; persuading International Monetary Fund member states to triple so-called special drawing rights monetary reserves for Africa to $100 billion; and giving Africa the ability to produce and distribute COVID-19 shots at home. Macron said this moment could be seized to respond to broader, long-standing — and, so far, unaddressed — challenges facing Africa. He said an economic and strategic new deal with Africa would not happen overnight, but the talks had triggered a new dynamic. The same message was heard from Senegal's President Macky Sall. He said a paradigm shift is under way in Africa's relationship with richer nations — from having programs imposed on it to co-constructing what is needed. That offers hope, he said, because Africans know their problems better than anyone.FILE - A regional hospital is seen from the street in Bafoussam, Cameroon, Sept. 20, 2021. Officials in the country say doctors are fleeing Cameroon to escape hardship, poor pay, difficult working conditions and unemployment. FILE - Nurses talk with a 13-year-old boy with a gunshot wound as he lies in a hospital bed in Kumba, Cameroon, Oct. 25, 2020.
Supporters attend an election rally addressed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, M. K. Stalin, ahead of country's general elections, on the outskirts of southern Indian city of Chennai, April 15, 2024. Large cutout portraits of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Indian National Congress (INC) leaders are erected overseeing political supporters during an election campaign rally, Chennai, April 15, 2024. Large cutout portraits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are displayed along the route as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan rides on top of a vehicle during a roadshow, Chennai, April 14, 2024.
FILE - Steel rolls are seen at a holding area at a factory in Nantong in China's eastern Jiangsu province on March 1, 2022. President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event, April 16, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. Biden has begun three straight days of campaigning in Pennsylvania in his childhood hometown of Scranton. FILE - Steel pipes are seen at a port to be loaded onto ships for export to various countries in Lianyungang, eastern China's Jiangsu province on Dec. 1, 2015.
FILE - Myanmar's then-leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020. Myanmar’s military says Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as health measure due to a heat wave. Prisoners in a bus are welcomed by family members after their were release from Insein Prison, April 17, 2024, in Yangon, Myanmar. On Wednesday Myanmar's military government granted amnesty for over 3,000 prisoners to mark this week’s traditional New Year holiday.
People whose houses were demolished on public health grounds collect water in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024. Rapid urbanization has led to a population boom and housing shortages in Abidjan, where nearly one in five Ivorians reside. A house that was demolished on public health grounds in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024. A school girl walks past houses that were demolished on public health grounds in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024.