The UK and EU moved to calm tensions over access to Covid-19 vaccines after the bloc proposed tougher restrictions on the export of the medicines.
Britain and the European Commission issued a joint statement saying they wanted to create a win-win situation.
EU leaders were set to hold online talks on Thursday to discuss ways to boost vaccine supplies across the continent.
At the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will ask leaders to back her plans to restrict exports of vaccines based on the destination country’s inoculation rates.
It stops short of a full export ban but Europe will also insist on reciprocity – meaning supplies will be restricted from going to countries that do not send doses back.
The EU previously said it wants two AstraZeneca plants in the UK to deliver doses to the continent.
“Given our interdependencies, we are working on specific steps we can take in the short, medium and long term to create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all our citizens,” the UK and EU said in a statement on Wednesday.
“In the end, openness and global co-operation of all countries will be key to finally overcome this pandemic and ensure better preparation for meeting future challenges. We will continue our discussions.”
Officials on both sides said they had not reached a supply deal, but it was the beginning of a negotiation.
The joint statement came after the discovery of a stockpile of 29 million shots in an Italian factory.
The EU has become increasingly frustrated with pharmaceutical companies – particularly AstraZeneca – over a shortfall in supplies to the bloc.
At the same time, the UK’s vaccine drive raced ahead. About 45 per cent of British citizens have received a Covid-19 shot, compared with 14 per cent in the EU.
British officials were this week in Brussels negotiating with the European Commission over how to divide up stock from an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands. That followed a spat over why the company was sending vaccines to the UK but was not meeting its commitments to the EU.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, chief executive of the Wellcome Trust health research charity, said he hoped there would be “an outbreak of statecraft” between the two sides.
"Export bans will have huge ramifications," he told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme on Thursday.
“The biggest risk is that new variants appear anywhere in the world and eventually come back to haunt us in our own countries. If we allow that to happen by increasing transmission around the world and not offering vaccines, then this pandemic will continue for months and years to come.”
Former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb said a “tit for tat” dispute between the two sides “simply doesn’t work”.
“We need to respect all of the casualties and we need to tone down the discussion and the debate. We’re all in this together,” he told Sky News.
Under the EU’s export plan, there will still be no automatic bans. Officials will take into account a nation’s vaccination rate and pandemic situation when deciding whether to approve shipments.
While the bloc is a major exporter of vaccines, Ms von der Leyen said “open roads should run in both directions”.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The biog
Name: Mariam Ketait
Emirate: Dubai
Hobbies: I enjoy travelling, experiencing new things, painting, reading, flying, and the French language
Favourite quote: "Be the change you wish to see" - unknown
Favourite activity: Connecting with different cultures
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
