AU, EU to prioritize pharmaceutical sector in Africa

The construction of more factories in the pharmaceutical sector in Africa is one of the priorities in the cooperation between the African Union and the European Union.

In Luanda, during a visit to the Covid-19 vaccination centre, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the strong European bloc is working with African countries to achieve this goal.

There is need to have more factories in the pharmaceutical sector in Africa, Michel said. "This is a priority for the African Union and the European Union is mobilised one hundred percent in moving in this direction, they are working with the European Investment Bank... I have spoken to many African leaders to get it, as soon as possible. Because it is very important in terms of the future for Africa, but also for Europe because that means diversification of the supply chain and that is also good for us. That's why we want to cooperate with governments but also with the private sector"  the president of the European Council explained.

During his short visit to Angola, Charles Michel also met with President João Lourenço.  The Angolan President assumed that the country's economy was strongly dependent on the oil sector and consequently vulnerable.

"The Angolan economy has always been strongly dependent on revenues from the export of crude oil, which is wrong and even dangerous because it is a product with very volatile prices that do not depend only on the will of the producers" Lourenço said in his address during Lource. Today we are seriously committed to the diversification of the economy with a strong focus on the private sector through the creation of a better business environment that attracts private and foreign investors". 

Lourenco stressed that it was important to strengthen the partnership between the private sector and governments to leverage industrialisation in Africa.

Earlier, the president of the European Council met with the acting president of the African Union and also of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, with whom he discussed the mechanisms for resolving the security crisis in the country and strengthening the partnership between the European Union and the African Union.