Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. The billionaire and philanthropist will help China fight tuberculosis and malaria.
On Thursday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will donate $50 million to help Chinese efforts to fight disease. This will be Gate's first visit in four years. This is one of the first few visits by a Western business leader since the country ended its strict COVID controls.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase visited China last month. Chinese state media CCTV said on the agenda is a rare sit down between Jinping and Gates. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the US on June 17.
The $50 million will support "efforts to improve health outcomes worldwide through lifesaving therapies for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, which disproportionately affect the world's poorest", the Gates Foundation said in a statement, AFP reported.
"China has made significant gains reducing poverty and improving health outcomes within China," Gates said.
"I'm hopeful China can play an even bigger role in addressing the current challenges, particularly those facing African countries," he added. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it would renew collaboration with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI). The GHDDI is a Beijing-based group set up by Gates, the Beijing municipal government and Tsinghua University.
During Gates' visit to China in 2019, he met with first lady Peng Liyuan to discuss his foundation's work in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
