Bill Gates and FAO share common goal to help vulnerable people

Technology magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates today emphasized his support for FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu by meeting him at FAO’s Liaison Office in New York.

During their discussion, the FAO Director-General briefed Gates on his vision for FAO and the UN agency’s new Hand-In-Hand Initiative which prioritizes targeted work that benefits people in the world’s most vulnerable regions including small island developing states, least developed and landlocked countries.

Gates for his part described the development work supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, particularly in Africa.

Gates reiterated the Foundation’s recent commitment to provide concrete support to FAO during this period of transition.

The two parties agreed on the need to scale up efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and together play a complementary role to facilitate this process.