President Cyril Ramaphosa will address a virtual Global COVID-19 Summit on Wednesday, at the invitation of United States President Joe Biden.
The theme of the summit is ‘Ending the Pandemic and Building Better Health Security to Prepare for the Next’.
The summit, according to the Presidency, envisages agreement by leaders on four targets that will be announced by President Biden, which aim to create lasting solutions to combat COVID-19 and future pandemics.
“President Ramaphosa has been central in the global leadership response to the pandemic over and above being the COVID-19 Champion for the African Union and the continent,” the Presidency said.
The President’s Office said the recording of the address, which is due to start at 17:00, will be shared with all media after the summit, as the event is closed to media.
According to the White House, “this meeting is about expanding and enhancing our shared efforts to defeat COVID-19, building out from previous gatherings of world leaders and Ministers in fora like the G7, G20, and Act Accelerator”.
According to reports, America will be asking participants “to commit to a higher level of ambition by expanding reach in four broad avenues”.
These include enhancing equitable access to vaccines and getting shots in arms; solving the oxygen crisis; making tests, personal protective equipment, therapeutics more easily available; and establishing sustainable health security financing by tracking progress, and countries supporting each other to fulfil commitments.
Source: South African Government News Agency