Brussels, 24/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - For the second time in less than a year, the successful American businessman and philanthropist, Bill Gates, was greeted by the European institutions. With his wife, Gates jointly presides the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” created in 1994 to help developing countries. Seeking to strengthen effective aid, the theme of his campaign was “Living Proof - the impact of effective aid”. Gates met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and with Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, on the evening of 23 January. The next day, he addressed the development committee of the European Parliament.
Bill Gates declared that his foundation focuses on many development issues that the European Union also deals with, saying they had many objectives in common. He said: “We discussed the choices that we have made, during these times of budgetary constraint, to help the poorest countries of the world, and we held an exchange of views on what works and how to do better”. He above all spoke of the area of health and the support that can be given to agricultural productivity in developing countries - two priorities that the EU and the Gates Foundation share. With Commissioner Piebalgs and before the development committee, Bill Gates hailed the priorities established by the EU in its agenda for change, which will be a guide for development policy after 2013. Welcoming the EU's generosity, he called, as he had done last April in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 10352) for it to increase its aid to 0.7% of GNP by 2015. (AN/transl.jl)