Africa-Press – South-Africa. PARIS – About 40 heads of state, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, took part in France’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact on Thursday even though a blast ripped through a street in Paris hours before the start of the event.
The blast ripped through a street near Paris’ historic Latin Quarter on Wednesday at around 16:55 local time. Paris is in the same time zone as South Africa.
Authorities have said it was a “gas explosion”.
Ramaphosa attended the opening address by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais Brongniart in Paris, the venue of the New Global Financing Pact summit.
The venue of the summit is about 3km from where the blast took place.
Security at the venue for the summit has been heightened.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that sniffer dogs had picked up a scent under the mound of masonry left strewn across Rue Saint-Jacques.
Darmanin said:
The blast destroyed the facade of a building housing the Paris American Academy design school, popular with foreign students.
Local media reported that there were no fatalities, but more than 30 people were injured.
The French authorities have given no official figures.
Several nearby buildings were evacuated.
On Thursday, first responders were still combing the area for survivors.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was too early to say what had caused the blast.
However, in a Twitter post, local deputy mayor, Edouard Civel, said it had been “a gas explosion”.
During his opening address, Macron made no mention of the incident.
He encouraged more companies from developed nations to stop seeing Africa as a risk-prone place in which to invest.
Macron said:
“Each country should follow a sovereign path according to its own model guided by different geopolitical realities they need to overcome.”
During the summit, France will call on banks, as well as rating and grant-funding agencies to rethink how they perceive African economies.
“We need to mobilise more funds and seek to have banks, rating agencies, and other financial institutions viewing Africa and other regions differently. We need much more investment from the private sector to make our system work better,” Macron added.
The two-day summit started on Thursday and is expected to end on Friday.
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