French President Emmanuel Macron travelled to South Africa for a state visit Friday for a 24-hour trip focused on the fight against Covid-19 and its economic fallout.
Fresh off a visit to Rwanda, where he acknowledged France’s role in the 1994 genocide, Macron held talks in Pretoria with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa, whom he met last week in Paris at a summit on African economies.
The pair were also due to attend an event to support vaccine production on the continent, sponsored by the European Union, the United States and the World Bank.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron are meeting in Pretoria. Courtesy #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/lJ0kXE4Twb
So far South Africa, the country worst hit by Covid on the continent, has vaccinated just 1 percent of its population of 59 million people.
Its immunisation efforts got off to a slow start when it sold its AstraZeneca vaccines to other African countries amid fears that they would be less effective.
The country was then forced to pause its rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for two weeks in April on the back of blood clot fears.
Now, along with India, South Africa is campaigning for a waiver of intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, so that each country may produce its own doses.
Macron has said he supports a transfer of technology that would enable vaccine production sites to be set up in poorer countries.
Visit long delayed
Originally due to take place more than a year ago, Macron’s visit to South Africa – an important G20 partner – was postponed as the pandemic took hold.
The initial purpose for the trip had been to discuss multilateral cooperation with South Africa, which is also a regular guest at G7 summits.
In addition to the pandemic, Macron and Ramaphosa are expected to focus on climate and economic issues, as well as security in northern Mozambique, which has been plagued by jihadist attacks.
French energy giant Total was last month forced to suspend work on a multi-billion euro gas project in Cabo Delgado province after a nearby town was targeted.
On Saturday morning, Macron will meet with the members of the French diaspora, as he usually does on trips abroad.
Before heading home to France, he’ll stop by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, whose main missions are the fight against AIDS and education in rural areas.