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NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 We are certainly stronger than the problems.
00:20 [APPLAUSE]
00:27 Excellencies, heads of state and government,
00:32 Excellency Marky Sar, President of the Republic of Senegal,
00:39 Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President
00:43 of the Republic of Ghana, Honorable Mia Motle,
00:50 Prime Minister of Bebedos, my sister,
00:56 Excellency Ursula von Leyen, President
01:01 of the European Commission, Excellency Musa Faki,
01:09 Mahmoud Cheah Parson of the African Union Commission,
01:18 Professor Oguo Sahin, Professor Oslem Turek,
01:26 Founders of BioNTech, heads of state, ministers,
01:46 Annalena Baerbock, representing the Chancellor of Germany,
01:54 Minister Joe Favala, representing
02:01 the President of South Africa, Minister Gervais Abuejo,
02:14 representing the President of Burundi,
02:18 Dr. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank,
02:24 distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
02:31 First of all, I want to welcome you, particularly
02:37 the heads of state and government
02:39 who have joined us and the leaders
02:42 of international institutions.
02:47 Secondly, I want to thank you, beginning with BioNTech,
02:57 especially Professor Oguo, Professor Oslem.
03:04 We are very proud of the entire team
03:12 from BioNTech who have worked tirelessly
03:19 to deliver this project.
03:23 This facility is designed to be among the most
03:34 advanced in the world.
03:36 [APPLAUSE]
03:39 Most of the staff are from Africa,
03:50 including the site manager and engineer from Nigeria.
04:01 The quality is exactly the same as you would find anywhere else.
04:11 Vaccine inequity hit Africa hard during the pandemic.
04:24 We found ourselves knocking on every door in search of doses.
04:34 The situation was intolerable.
04:41 And the African Union came together
04:47 to make a firm commitment that we would not
04:53 allow ourselves to be in that position ever again.
05:01 That is how Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana
05:13 came to be pilot countries for vaccine manufacturing.
05:22 Others have also joined, and we have all
05:27 made solid progress working together.
05:33 Africa CDC has coordinated the partnership for Africa
05:50 vaccine manufacturing led by Dr. Jean Cassell.
06:00 The African Medicines Agency was created with its future
06:12 headquarters here in Kigali.
06:17 I commend the chairperson, Mosa Faki,
06:24 for his steadfast support and being
06:34 a force behind all of these efforts,
06:39 as well as the African Union Special Envoy, who
06:43 helped steer us through very uncertain times.
06:49 You may remember that the consensus at first
06:59 was that mRNA vaccines could not even
07:10 be administered in Africa.
07:14 It was said to be too complicated for our health
07:20 systems.
07:20 Then, when we embarked on this journey
07:28 to manufacture these vaccines on our continent,
07:34 we were told that it would take a minimum of 30 years.
07:40 That was all wrong.
07:48 It is possible.
07:50 And because it is possible, it is also necessary.
07:58 What BioNTech's partnership with Africa demonstrates
08:05 is that vaccine technology can be democratized.
08:09 But you could not have reached this point
08:17 without a wider set of partnerships.
08:21 The world mobilized quickly and effectively
08:28 to support the African initiatives.
08:32 President Ursula von der Leyen, I
08:41 want to personally thank you for your personal involvement,
08:51 but working together with other partners in the European Union,
08:58 you became instrumental in initiating the collaboration
09:11 with BioNTech.
09:14 And the European Commission has provided crucial support
09:23 to Rwanda to build our regulatory capacity,
09:29 support skills and training, and fund research
09:36 as did the European Investment Bank.
09:39 Many individual partner countries
09:48 stepped up as well, but today allowed
09:53 me to single out Germany, which immediately put in place
10:00 an extensive cooperation program.
10:04 The World Health Organization has supported Rwanda's regulator
10:14 to work toward ML3 status in record time.
10:21 The African Development Bank took the lead
10:29 in establishing the African Pharmaceutical Technology
10:38 Foundation, which will also be based here in Kigali.
10:46 We thank the African Development Bank.
10:49 And the International Finance Corporation
10:56 has been with us from the beginning,
11:01 helping Rwanda to map out the long-term vision
11:08 for our pharmaceutical ecosystem.
11:11 I am pleased to announce that Rwanda is moving
11:17 into a new phase of collaboration with IFC
11:24 to ensure that BioNTech's investment is just
11:32 the first of many.
11:34 If time permitted, I would highlight
11:43 many other contributions, such as those of Gavi, CEPI,
11:50 and the Global Fund.
11:53 The reason I wanted to mention all of this
12:03 is because the real success factor in today's milestone
12:11 is trust and cooperation.
12:18 And we need more of that if we want
12:24 to ensure that Africa is ready and resilient,
12:30 no matter what happens in the future.
12:35 The presence here of our sister Prime Minister Mia Motle
12:47 of Barbados signals that the concern for health equity
12:55 extends beyond our continent.
13:01 Rwanda and Barbados have been advising and supporting
13:08 each other closely on pharma manufacturing.
13:15 We would like to see much deeper cooperation between Africa
13:25 and the Caribbean, especially with respect
13:28 to crude procurement, to make our industries sustainable.
13:39 Adversity is often the starting point of great success.
13:48 In the end, we all have something to offer each other.
13:56 Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
14:03 once again, I welcome you and thank you all
14:10 for sharing this day with us.
14:16 Have a good day.
14:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]