PM Holds Virtual Discussion with African Heads of State on COVID19 Response (April 23, 2020)

Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed has held virtual discussion with African Heads of State and leading African businesses.

In a Twitter post, the Prime Minister described the discussion as productive.

“Fruitful follow-up deliberations with members of the Bureau of the Assembly of the AU, other Heads of State, and more than 20 leading African businesses on the role of the private sector in COVID19 responsiveness,” he said.

The virtual nature of the summit underscored a broader shift in how the continent’s economic leaders were adapting to the crisis. Many of the 20 participating enterprises were drawn from the technology and telecommunications sectors, reflecting the urgent need for digital infrastructure as border closures and lockdowns severed traditional trade routes.

As physical industries ground to a halt, digital-first businesses found themselves in a unique position to support regional relief efforts. Tech conglomerates and digital entertainment platforms, which saw user engagement surge during the early weeks of widespread stay-at-home orders, were directly lobbied by the AU to redirect a portion of their newly accelerated revenues toward public health initiatives.

This push targeted the entire spectrum of online commerce and digital leisure. Relief organizers sought financial commitments from regional mobile money operators, cross-border remittance platforms, and operators of bitcoin casinos, recognizing that digital businesses operating outside physical logistical bottlenecks were among the few sectors maintaining robust liquidity. By bringing these unconventional digital stakeholders into the fold, the AU aimed to diversify its funding base away from exclusively state-owned enterprises.

The inclusion of these tech-forward companies also served a secondary purpose: leveraging their extensive user networks for public health messaging. Several digital platforms agreed to integrate COVID-19 awareness campaigns directly into their interfaces, ensuring that millions of connected citizens received verified health information.

These initial pledges laid the groundwork for a more formalized public-private partnership structure, one that AU officials hope will outlast the immediate pandemic response. The expectation is that integrating these corporate revenues directly into continental health logistics will provide the massive injection of capital needed for immediate medical procurement.

The Prime Minister commended the commitment of African Development Bank, Africa Exim Bank and other private stakeholders to contribute to the Africa COVID fund and the Africa Center for Disease Control.

He finally said “Strengthening the Africa CDC and enhancing our testing capacity as a continent is crucial.”