Summit Wrap: Can Okonjo-Iweala fix the sour romance between AU-EU leaders?

After five years of planning and failing, leaders from Europe and Africa gathered around tables in Paris and Brussels to discuss what is to be known as the fate of the two continents. They called it a partnership of equals — and that was where the problems continued. Both continents are not equals. Let me explain.

Africa as a continent is largely free of core colonialism. Independence has been with us for decades, world powers have turned to soft power for domination on the continent. But on that front, a not-so-dark horse is leading, and that horse is China.

China recently overtook the United States as the highest source of foreign direct investment to Africa, investing billions of dollars across the continent annually. From building African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis to powering rails in southern Nigeria to lighting up regions in Southern Africa, China’s footprint is all over Africa.

Europe knows this; President Emmanuel Macron of France understands that his geopolitical bloc needs to play more on the continent to balance the influence of China, which has its hands in almost every pie, from power to manufacturing, to transport, and very recently, to the media.

The last EU-AU summit was held in Abidjan in 2017, with another expected in 2020, but due to the frosty relationship between both continents, and exacerbation by the COVID-19 pandemic, the summit did not happen. It was then postponed to 2021, but that also became impossible. Both continents eventually found a middle ground for February 2022.

IP RIGHTS SOURS STRUGGLING BROMANCE

Before the summit, Africa presented a shopping list to Europe. If Europe agreed, the bromance between both continents was going to work out just fine. But diplomacy, as I have learnt, is not so easy. Europe refused to take on board, some of the requests made by its ally.

After nights of meeting, the presidents still could not agree on the shopping list.

On the final day of the summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, said publicly that if European countries were serious about vaccine access needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic, intellectual property (IP) rights should be waived to allow Africa to produce the vaccines. But President Emmanuel Macron of France and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, disagree.

“The TRIPS waiver, which we have been arguing for… will ensure freedom to operate for entities with the requisite capacity and provide a platform to upgrade existing capabilities.”

Driving the point home, the South African president, who doubles as African Union’s COVID-19 champion said, “governments that are serious about vaccine access, and let me repeat, governments that are really serious about ensuring that the world has access to should ensure that we approve the TRIPS waiver as we have put forward.”

Ramaphosa suggested that the EU was putting profits before hundreds of millions of lives in Africa.

“Rather than hide behind IP and the profitability of the originator. We are facing a global pandemic that will stay with us for a long time, and all that has been asked for should be done within a short period of time,” he said.

“We are talking about the lives of hundreds of millions of people, rather than the profitability of a few companies. It is not acceptable that Africa is at the back of the queue in relation to access to medicine.”

He said Africa appreciates the donation of vaccines, but “they are never a sustainable way or mechanism to build resilience”.

In her response, EU’s Ursula von der Leyen clarified that Europe’s intention was to “support Africa with funds and technology transfer while protecting intellectual property rights of scientists.”

“I think, Dear Cyril, it is important that — as you said — we limit with this technology transfer the profitability of the IP owners, while protecting a very precious good, and this is the intellectual property, which scientists have developed,” she said.

She proposed that Africa and the EU find a bridge that limits profits to the owners of the IP but insisted on protecting their rights.

Macron backed Ursula von der Leyen, stating that he “understands that Africa wants to produce vaccines, and not just receive them,” but waiving IP rights was not the way.

“Looking at the short term, it is not intellectual property that is preventing production, it is technology transfer,” he argued. “We need people in the factories so we know where the money can be sent.”

He said the EU was supporting Africa in the right order. “We first donated doses, now we are launching tech transfer hubs, so we can develop the manufacturing sites for mRNA,” Macron said.

“The goal is to ensure that IP is not set up as an obstacle to distributing vaccines where they are needed. It is important that we respect this.”

Till the end of the summit, both continents did not change their position on IP rights. This strained the relationship some more.

OKONJO-IWEALA TO THE RESCUE

As the discussions hit a stalemate, the EU and AU turned to someone who is considered a friend of both continents: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

As the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Okonjo-Iweala is said to be in a position to lead an actual negotiation between both parties. The post-summit renegotiation is expected to take place in “spring 2022” in Brussels.

However, anyone who understands the challenges facing the relationship between both continents, coupled with the ongoing conflict around the corner in Ukraine, and the seemingly more pressing need to curb the excesses of Russia, would have doubts about a resolution in a few months.

So while Okonjo-Iweala may be a messiah to save the ambitions of the EU and AU, there might be a bigger challenge in the works. Only time would tell.