Bill Gates hopeful of more aid from China

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CANBERRA: The world’s richest man Bill Gates yesterday urged China to become a bigger player in foreign development following its success in lifting millions of its own people out of poverty.

Speaking in Australia, where the Microsoft co-founder met with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Gates said the Asian powerhouse was already giving foreign aid but there were “very little facts and figures” on how much.

“I am hopeful that Chinese aid, both in terms of the quality of the aid and the quantity of the aid, will continue to increase,” he told a lunch address in Canberra.

“I think that there is a real opportunity there. What they’ve done to date, as far as anything that is visible, is quite modest.”

Gates, who recently overtook Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim as the world’s richest man with an estimated wealth of US 69.8 billion, said his work towards the eradication of polio was a personal priority.

Australia, which committed A$50 million (US$48 million) to fight polio in 2011, yesterday pledged another A$80 million over four years from 2015 to wipe out the crippling disease which remains endemic in only three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is contributing US$1.8 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, one-third of the polio endgame strategic plan 2013-2018. — AFP