The British Prime Minister invited Cyril Ramaphosa. The South African president “has played an important role internationally in the fight against Covid-19”, the invitation card states. President Ramaphosa is already present at the G7 in Biarritz, France in 2019 and returns to the big tables with an ambition: to convince his partners that intellectual property patents must be revoked in order to increase vaccine production in poor countries.
as reported from Johannesburg, Romain Song
This invitation is “recognition”, believes Cyril Ramaphosa. For the role that South Africa played in the fight against the pandemic. With this leadership status, the South African president hopes to make progress on the sensitive issue of intellectual patents that he temporarily wants to address. A topic he has been advocating for eight months with India, also a guest on G7.
Cyril Ramaphosa also finds Emmanuel Macron, whom he had visited two weeks ago. In Pretoria, the French president promised to raise the issue of patents at this summit.
Cyril Ramaphosa also says he wants to take advantage of this gathering to prove that South Africa is emerging from the devastation caused by the pandemic. However, the country is heading for a third wave of epidemics with 8,000 pollutants per day and a vaccination campaign that is not gaining momentum.
France, but also the host country, Great Britain, is not fooled by this subject. South Africa is still on the red list of countries to avoid visits.
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