Paris Summit: Macron calls for investment in Africa; urges leaders to lift vaccine patents

France President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday asked the countries to explore better investment methods to boost the finance and economy of African nations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Holding a summit on May 19 at the Grand Palais Ephémère in Paris with African heads of state and government, the French President aimed to redefine France’s engagement in the African continent as he discussed ways that the Western countries could fund African economies, and draft means to ease Africa’s investments risks with the West and its inclination to China. 

Addressing several African and European leaders and heads of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the African Union, France’s Macron said, “We are gathered here to reverse what has emerged as a very dangerous divergence between advanced economies and developing countries, especially Africa.”

Macron's remarks came as reports suggest that the African continent will enter a deficit of nearly $ 300 billion by the end of 2023 due to the battered economy from the coronavirus pandemic. At the summit, Macron asked the leaders to find ways to fund the African economies and overcome the financial crisis. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund meanwhile agreed for an additional $100 billion funding towards the revival of African economies and financial growth. 

“This moment may be an opportunity to finally respond to huge challenges,” Macron said at the Paris Summit, adding that the sub-Saharan African economies together shrank by1.9 percent in 2020.

“Africa has all it takes to succeed. It has a youth, a productive power, and the power to tackle challenges, such because the local weather and meal emergencies particularly, if we, collectively, resolve to suggest a brand new deal,” Macron, further stated.

Macron’s push for enhancing investments for African nations outlines the urgency as The African Improvement Financial institution report stated that more than 39 million Africans will fall beneath the poverty line within the next 12 months due to the financial debts amid the pandemic. Macron said Africa wants a “new deal” as he opposed financial chiefs’ proposal of reallocating the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of $650 billion, which includes $34 billion for Africa and $24 billion for sub-Saharan Africa.

French PM’s Office Elysee meanwhile issued a statement saying that France aims to cumulate the financial resources for African continent as its GDP risks the first recession in 25 years in 2021. And even as the continent might bounce back in 2022, it will be an alarming lower rate than the developed world with a risk of “divergence”. "These amounts will not be enough. We are thinking about how to use SDRs from advanced countries for low-income countries," his office Elysée said, suggesting fund zero-interest loans for Africa. 

Macron tells West 'lift vaccine patents'

French President Macron also called on the world leaders for the lifting of vaccine patents to allow manufacturers in Africa to “massively” produce vaccines. "We are asking the WHO, the WTO, and the Medicines Patent Pool to remove all these constraints in terms of intellectual property which blocks the production of certain types of vaccines," Macron said on a conclusive note at the summit. "The current situation is not sustainable, it is both unfair and inefficient,” he added. Macron warned that "failing to protect Africa from the variants that will reappear on African soil will hit the Africans themselves and then perpetually condemn us [world] to chase these variants.”

“We have a common responsibility; vaccinating one’s own populations does not guarantee health security,” Emmanuel Macron said.