Find your favorites in your Premium Independent section, my profile
The UK and South Africa agreed on their fitness partnership to help you avoid pandemics in the long term.
The deal was signed Wednesday when South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stopped at the Francis Crick Institute’s biomedical studies centre in London, his state stop in the UK.
Under the agreement, UK and South African establishments will collaborate on nine projects on topics such as fitness systems, intellectual fitness, surgery and HIV, according to the Foreign Office, Commonwealth and Development (CDF).
A new UK investment for genomic sequencing through South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases has been announced, which aims to accelerate the detection of harmful diseases in Africa.
The partnership will prioritize the production of construction vaccines on the continent.
The two countries are also jointly applying to tackle climate change, with the UK contributing investments to the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa to decarbonise its economy.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK and South Africa have shown global leadership by joining others in preventing the spread of harmful diseases and running to avoid climate change, adding through the innovative Just Energy Transition Partnership, to help countries move away from fossil fuels.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Strengthening the partnership between the UK and South Africa is not only to improve fitness and patient outcomes in both countries, but it is also important to build the global resilience of our fitness systems.
“Through this partnership, we will maintain our shared commitment to ensuring the world is better prepared for pandemics in the long term through joint studies and capacity building for disease surveillance, adding antimicrobial resistance. “
Ramaphosa also visited the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which has long collaborated with seed banks with South African establishments to maintain the country’s rich plant diversity.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey, who accompanied the South African president to the gardens with the Earl of Wessex, said: “This scale highlights South Africa’s biodiversity and our long-standing clinical collaboration to protect nature.
Ministers on the importance of UN talks on how to halt biodiversity loss, to be held next month in Montreal, Canada.
In Ekew, the president and the count saw plants on display at the Temperate House, which is home to more than 10,000 rare and endangered plants from around the world, South Africa.
He showed the royal proteus of Kew, the national flower of his country, as well as an encephalartos woodii, nicknamed the world’s loneliest plant and the only specimen discovered in the wild, in 1895 in South Africa.
Mr. Ramaphosa also delivered seeds of Leucospermum conocarpodendron, the South African flower known as the tree’s pad, which are declining in the Western Cape.
The donation marks a plan to open a national South African seed bank next year, kicking off a movement of duplicate seeds found in the Millennium Seed Bank.
At one point, the president photographed painstakingly holding and examining an e-book Guide to Identifying South African Pastures.
Want to bookmark your favorite articles and stories to read or refer to later?Start your Independent Premium club today.