Brussels, 05/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Successful US businessman and philanthropist, Bill Gates, is co-president, together with his wife, of the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”, which they set up in 1994 to help developing countries. On 5 April in Strasbourg, he addressed the EP development committee and argued why it would be beneficial if the aid and development budgets were increased.
Gates was visiting Europe (Strasbourg, Paris, Berlin) to present the “Living proof Initiative”, which seeks to show decision makers how development aid can make a difference to millions of people. His visit to the Parliament in Strasbourg was described as being particularly timely. It came at the very time of the debate on the funding of future EU policies and when arguments were being made for increasing development funds. Michèle Striffler (EPP, France) chaired the discussions and saw it as an excellent opportunity to examine the contributions made by public and private fund donors, as well as the partnership between these two players.
Bill Gates declared that he was on tour to spread the good word that development aid budgets have already made a difference and that it was thanks to the generosity of taxpayers that aid benefited developing countries. He explained that most of this aid came from Europe (Ed: 56%). His foundation has a budget of $17 billion and mobilises the biggest chunk of these funds in the direction of health projects in developing countries because, as Bill Gates explained, he had observed that health is the domain where the greatest difference can be made. This foundation also invests in jobs, education and agriculture, in an effort to help poor farmers improve their productivity. These priorities are shared with those of the EU. MEPs listened attentively to the homage paid to the major role played by the EU in the global fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. They also warmly welcomed the appeal from the philanthropist in favour of huge investments in crucial technology such as vaccines for fighting against polio, malaria, and dysentery. Bill Gates explained that if they continued in this project, they might be able to win the battle in two or three years' time. He also said that certain vaccines should not be restricted to children in the rich countries alone because everything that kills children could be prevented by vaccines. Gay Mitchell (EPP, Ireland) drove this message home even further and said that it was true that in Africa, more people died from non-transmissible diseases than from AIDS.
Charles Goerens (ALDE, Luxembourg) pointed out that the EU was on track towards reaching its goal of allocating 0.7% of GNP to public development aid by 2015. He also asked whether the poor performance in this respect by the US (0.2% of GNP) was down to the generosity displayed by Bill Gates. The latter replied that the US is not a good example in terms of volume of aid provided but pointed out that it was the biggest fund donor in the field of research into malaria. He indicated that the US spent a third of what they ought to in this respect and regretted that they were now fighting to prevent this aid being reduced, although during the election campaign, a commitment had been made to double this figure. The share provided by the private sector in international aid is less than 2%. Gates pointed out that this should be increased, particularly in the context of funding research and trying new things but that in order to help healthcare and agriculture in developing countries, the dominant form of aid was that provided by governments.
The Bill Gates Foundation and Commission in a strengthened partnership
After his meeting with Bill Gates, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, provided assurances that the Commission would participate in the Living Proof Initiative, so that EU citizens could see the effects of what they were doing to help development. The EU is the biggest donor of PDA and contributes €50 billion a year but quality of aid is as important as the quantity of aid provided. Barroso added that this is why they were working with the private sector. The Bill Gates Foundation and the Commission would co-operate in setting up agricultural corridors in developing countries that would help provide guarantees for transporting the latter's products towards the markets, explained the president of the Commission. (A.N./transl.fl)