The Paris summit on Tuesday promised to pass a “New Deal” to help Africa overcome the coronavirus pandemic, use global financial firepower to replenish depleted coffers, and increase slow vaccine promotion efforts.

The summit brought together African leaders and global financial institutions to launch the “Africa and Africa’s New Deal,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference.

According to the latest statistics from official sources of Agence France-Presse, there were nearly 130,000 deaths from the coronavirus in the African population during the pandemic, while nearly 3.4 million people died worldwide, although experts believe that the official death toll in African countries may be affected. underestimated.

The economic costs of the pandemic are disastrous. The International Monetary Fund warned at the end of 2020 that Africa will face a funding gap of US$290 billion by 2023, undermining all development efforts.

At the same time, the slow introduction of vaccines has raised concerns that variants may appear on the African continent and then spread to the world.

The main concern at this summit is that although wealthier countries are launching economic recovery plans, Africa lacks the means to follow suit and risks exacerbating inequality and thus insecurities.

The final declaration of the summit said: “We must not let the African economy fall behind.”

Call for exemption of vaccine patents

Macron said that there are also huge inequalities in Africa’s limited access to coronavirus vaccines. The summit hopes to cancel patents so that Africa can start producing stabs.

Macron pointed out that the slow rate of vaccination is a major problem on the African continent, so he hopes to vaccinate 40% of the population in Africa by the end of 2021.

He said: “The current situation is unsustainable, unfair and inefficient.”

Macron added: “We ask the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the drug patent pool to remove all these restrictions on intellectual property rights, which will prevent the production of certain types of vaccines.”

Senegalese President Macky Sall praised this practice for “changing mindsets,” and the Group of Twenty (G20) countries realized that their well-being depends on the advancement of vaccines in Africa.

“We have a shared responsibility; vaccinating our own population does not guarantee health and safety.”

The current chairman of the African Union, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, said: “This is a huge opportunity for Africa.” The pandemic “puts our economy into poverty because we have to use what we have There are only a few means to combat this disease.”

International Monetary Fund Chairman Christina Georgchiva warned that if the pace of vaccine introduction in Africa is not accelerated, there will also be economic consequences.

She said: “It is clear that unless we exit the health crisis, we will not get out of the economic crisis for a long time.”

The concluding remark said: In terms of finance, “we will use the international financial system to create much-needed fiscal space for the African economy.”

The signatories said they will now urge the IMF to quickly and universally allocate a total of US$650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to all its members, of which approximately US$33 billion will be allocated to Africa.

Special drawing rights are a kind of reserve asset used to improve the financial situation of IMF members based on a basket of currencies, which can be converted into much-needed U.S. dollars.

The United States has been working hard to obtain such expenditures from the International Monetary Fund to offset the economic impact of COVID-19, including low-income countries.

Macron said at a press conference that several wealthy countries have agreed to hand over their special drawing rights to African countries because US$33 billion is “too little” and hopes that voluntary contributions can increase Africa’s special drawing rights. To 100 billion U.S. dollars, the International Monetary Fund can increase some of its gold reserves.

Some experts criticized SDRs as easy money for financially irresponsible countries. The declaration on Tuesday urged countries to “transparently and effectively use these new resources.”

“Global Growth Champion”

The leaders of the summit promised that they will seek to supplement special drawing rights through “flexible response to debt and deficit ceilings,” but they also urged countries to implement “necessary reforms at the national level.”

The former chairman of the European Central Bank, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi (Mario Draghi) promised that the summit proposal will be supported by the Group of 20 (G20) countries and “all multilateral institutions in the world.”

Draghi said that debt restructuring will make great efforts to help Africa.

Georgieva said, “There are very dangerous differences between developed economies and developing countries, especially Africa.”

French President Emmanuel Macron caught the President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina next to President Alassane Ouattara before the opening of the summit on Tuesday. [Ludovic Marin/Reuters]

She said that Africa’s economic growth this year can only reach 3.2%, which is far behind the 6% estimated by the rest of the world.

The African Development Bank predicts that as many as 39 million people may fall into poverty this year, and many African countries are at risk of debt distress due to the pandemic.

The summit welcomed the agreement of major global lenders in April to suspend the repayment of public debt.

The summit was held the day after a meeting held on Monday. Several heads of state participated in the meeting to win support for the Sudanese government.

It is expected that leaders attending Tuesday’s summit will also discuss debt relief initiatives and how to reduce interest rates in the African private sector to promote investment and growth.