The African Development Bank (AfDB) is hosting on Monday a high-level event on the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) from 9:00 to10:30am (GMT+3) on the sidelines of the AfDB's Annual Meetings 2023 taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh. The APTF, a pan-African agency, has been set up by the AfDB in response to a call by African Union member states to create a dedicated institution to address the long-standing technology gaps in the region's pharmaceutical sector. The Foundation aims to work to promote technology access and transfer and facilitate technological upgrading of relevance to the pharmaceutical sector for Africa. The APTF's work will focus on bringing together global and other southern private sector companies, and public sector research institutions with their counterparts in the continent. It is also set to launch several dedicated programmes that will focus on enhancing technology absorption in Africa's private and public sectors. During the event, participants will have the opportunity to engage in discussions regarding the Foundation's areas of work and its significance as a strategically important agency within Africa's emerging institutional architecture for pharmaceutical production and innovation. The event, chaired by AfDB chairman Akinwumi A. Adesina, will include a presentation on the APTF by Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Senior Advisor on Pharmaceuticals and Health at the AfDB. Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat will be among the panelists besides Bärbel Kofler, AfDB Governor and Parliamentary State Secretary (State Minister) of Germany; Christian Happi, director of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases; and Markus Berndt, acting Managing Director of European Investment Bank Global.
