Berlin, 28 August 2021 (dpa/MIA) - German vaccine maker BioNTech wants to produce malaria and tuberculosis vaccines in Africa. The company said on Friday that it was examining the establishment of sustainable production facilities in Rwanda and Senegal. "Our goal is to develop vaccines in Africa and to establish sustainable production capacities for vaccines in order to jointly improve medical care," CEO Ugur Sahin said. BioNTech's technology could also be applied beyond Covid-19, Sahin explained. The company is already working on vaccines against tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. "There is no guarantee that these projects will be successful," Sahin said. "But we have to be prepared for success." Sahin spoke about the plans after meeting the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Senegalese President Macky Sall and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the G20 Compact with Africa economic conference. The initiative was launched in 2017 under the German G20 presidency to promote private investment in Africa and includes 12 African countries. According to the initiative, the countries of the African Union currently import 99 per cent of their vaccines. By 2040, this figure should be only 40 per cent. Amid the the coronavirus crisis, the African Union asked Europe in July to do more to address global inequities in vaccine distribution. At the G20 Compact with Africa meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called for more commitment to independent production of coronavirus vaccines in Africa. Everything must be done "to make it possible to supply Africa with vaccines and also to make it possible to produce medical supplies and vaccines on the African continent as quickly as possible," Merkel said on Friday. The choice of Rwanda and Senegal follows recommendations from the African Union and its health organization, it said. BioNTech could in principle also produce its Covid-19 vaccine at the local facilities. The European Investment Bank also wants to offer financial support for the projects in Senegal and Rwanda, its President Werner Hoyer said. Only with more local production can countries overcome Covid-19 and become more resilient to future pandemics, he said.