Paris Summit on Africa Ends With Call for Funding, Vaccines

A Paris summit for African, European and financial leaders has agreed on a plan to help Africa overcome the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have taken the first step in what we have agreed to call a New Deal with Africa," the summit host French President Emmanuel Macron said. Deutsche Welle reports that Macron said the summit had agreed to work towards getting rich nations to reallocate U.S. $100 billion in International Monetary Fund special drawing rights monetary reserves to African states by October 2021.

Voice of America reports that other goals included doubling Covid-19 vaccination targets for Africa by the end of 2021 under the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme and giving the continent the ability to produce and distribute Covid-19 shots at home.

About two dozen African heads of state attended the summit, making it one of the biggest in-person top-level meetings held since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.