By Zhao Cheng, Li Yingqi, People’s Daily
Bill Gates said he was glad to be part of the China International Import Expo during a recent exclusive interview with People’s Daily.
Gates praised China’s new achievements on poverty reduction and innovation when addressing the first Hongqiao International Economic and Trade Forum, which was held on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on Nov 5, the opening day of CIIE.
He also hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks in the latter’s speech at the opening ceremony of the CIIE that China will open still wider.
“I am a big believer in the win-win nature of free trade,” Gates told People’s Daily, adding that all the leaders at the CIIE were very strong on this point.
He took breakthroughs in medicine as an example, saying that the US wants Chinese breakthroughs and China wants US breakthroughs. He believes that there is much to do to avoid zero-sum mentality.
“New Era, Shared Future” is the theme of the CIIE. Gates holds that “Shared Future” means China connecting to the entire world, and to help the countries that are further behind China is an important part of that.
With the FOCAC and the Belt and Road Initiative, China is doing even more to share the lessons that it has learned, including the very ambitious goal of getting rid of extreme poverty completely by 2020, Gates noted.
He remarked that the “Shared Future” is very much an intersection with the basic priority of the Gates Foundation, expressing his hope to establish partnerships with China on aid projects.
On poverty reduction, disease control, and agricultural technologies, the Gates Foundation, together with its Chinese partners, have actively started exploration and research, as well as expanded third-party cooperation in Africa, so as to make the contribution to Africa’s sustainable development and the joint construction of the Belt and Road.
During the interview, Gates introduced his cooperation on the “reinvented toilet”. He said that China has achieved huge progress in health improvement for its hundreds of millions of people over the last few decades, and the recent “toilet revolution” campaign also reflected the country’s resolution to improve toilet sanitation and safety.
“Our goal is to eventually have the price be so low that even in an African city, that fairly poor people can afford to have this breakthrough toilet in their home,” Gates said.
During his trip to China, Gates attended the opening ceremony of the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI). He noted he is optimistic about China’s capability of research and innovation, saying China is investing in the basic research budget and it’s growing very quickly.
“We’ve had collaborations with groups like CNBG (China National Biotec Group) that has made special vaccines here with literally hundreds of millions of units of those vaccines going out to poor countries. As we’ve done particular projects, we are building on the success of those. We are actually doing more now,” Gates told People’s Daily.
Innovation is an important factor to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, and China has become a key part in advancing global progress and innovation, he said.
2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. In this regard, Gates noted that what China has done was just incredible.
“The 70% poverty reduction in the world came because these 40 years, those policies have utterly changed the income level and what you expect in terms of health and infrastructure,” Gates told People’s Daily.
According to Gates, when he first came to China 25 years ago, it was hard for him to see that China would not only get rid of poverty, but also in so many issues move to the forefront, with great scientists and world-leading companies.
The Informal Senior Officials Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is about to kick off in Papua New Guinea. Gates told People’s Daily that each party wanted to have more infrastructure so that trade can work easily.
He believes that it requires a lot of communication to make sure that cooperation projects are mutually beneficial. China is actively engaged in global forums such as the APEC and played an important role, Gates added.
期待与中方合作伙伴“共享未来”
——访盖茨基金会联席主席比尔·盖茨
人民日报记者 赵成 李应齐
“我很高兴参加中国国际进口博览会”，比尔·盖茨如此描述出席首届中国国际进口博览会的感受。在进博会虹桥国际经贸论坛发表演讲时，他赞扬中国减贫和创新成就。接受本报记者专访时，他盛赞习近平主席在进博会开幕式主旨演讲中非常清晰表明中国进一步扩大开放的立场。
“我坚信自由贸易能够带来双赢结果，出席进博会的所有领导人都强调了这一点”，比尔·盖茨说，以医学领域的重大突破为例，美国希望中国取得突破性成果，而中国也希望美国取得突破性成果。要改变人们零和博弈的思维模式，我们有很多工作可以做。
本届进博会的主题是“新时代，共享未来”。盖茨认为，“共享未来”是指中国与整个世界的联结，其中的一个重要组成部分就是帮助那些贫困的不发达国家。在中非合作论坛、“一带一路”等合作平台上，中国一直在分享自身发展积累的经验和创新方法，其中包括在努力实现2020年彻底消除国内极端贫困目标过程中积累的经验和资源。“共享未来，与比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会的战略目标十分契合，我们期待在一些援助项目上建立更多合作关系。”
在扶贫减贫、疾病防控、农业技术研发等方面，盖茨基金会与中国合作伙伴一道，积极开展探索和研究，拓展在非洲的第三方合作，为实现非洲可持续发展和共建“一带一路”作出贡献。比尔·盖茨介绍了在新厕所技术领域的合作。他表示，几十年来，中国在提高数亿居民的健康水平方面，取得了巨大成就，近年来开展的“厕所革命”也体现了中国加快厕所卫生、安全建设的决心。“我们的最终目标是把价格降低到非洲城市也能承担的程度，这样贫困人群也能在家中使用这种突破性厕所技术。”
此次中国行，盖茨还参加了全球健康药物研发中心新址入驻仪式。他表示，十分看好中国的研发和创新潜力。他说，中国正在加大基础研究投入，而且增长很快。“我们与中国生物技术集团等公司开展合作，研制疫苗，并把数以亿计的疫苗送到贫困国家。我们已经完成一些合作项目，在此基础上不断获得成功。我们现在的合作越来越广泛。”他表示，“创新是实现联合国2030年可持续发展目标的重要因素，中国已成为全球进步和创新过程中的关键一环。”
创新是实现联合国2030年可持续发展目标的重要因素，中国已成为全球进步和创新过程中的关键一环。
今年是中国改革开放40周年，盖茨认为，过去40年，中国取得了惊人的成就，改革开放政策极大提高了人们的收入和居民的健康水平，中国对全球减贫贡献率超过70%。盖茨说，他25年前第一次来到中国，很难想象中国不但取得了脱贫的巨大成就，还在诸多领域迈入世界先进行列，培养出伟大的科学家和世界领先的企业。
亚太经合组织（APEC）第二十六次领导人非正式会议即将在巴布亚新几内亚举行。盖茨说，大家都希望促进基础设施建设，推动贸易流通。这需要大量的沟通来确保合作项目是互利的，所以APEC提供的对话平台非常可贵。中国积极参与到APEC等多边平台中，发挥了重要作用。
