African Leaders Discuss on COVID-19 Response

Addis ababa, April 23/2020( ENA) African Heads of States and Governments on Wednesday held a virtual meeting to discuss on the role of the private sector in the African Union led continental fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting brought together Heads of States and Governments of DRC, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and members of the African Business Leaders Coalition.

Prime Minister Abiy on his twitter commended the commitment of AfDB Group, African Export-Import Bank and other private stakeholders to contribute to the Africa COVID-19 fund and African CDC is commendable.

 “Strengthening the African CDC and enhancing our testing capacity as a continent is critical,” he said.

Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on his part praised the participation of African private sectors in the fight against COVID-19.

“The enthusiasm by the African private sector to partner in the Partnership to Accelerate COVID19 Testing Initiative (PACT) was encouraging as we discussed how they could harness their logistics, private laboratories, manufacturing capacity to support the continental strategy,” he twitted.

The African Union will facilitate a platform for the African private sector to share experiences of how they have been able to adapt in these trying times of the COVID19 pandemic, the Chairperson added.

The virtual meeting of the African Union Extended Bureau of Heads of State was convened by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current Chair of the African Union for 2020.