Microsoft founder and Gates Foundation chairman Bill Gates. (Photo : Getty Images)
China's poverty reduction regulatory body on Friday entered an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bolster the country's campaign against poverty.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on strategic cooperation between the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Gates Foundation, the two sides will work jointly on future strategies, train personnel, and share experiences on the field, according to a report from the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
"The signing of the MOU marks a further deepening of cooperation," said Liu Yongfu, head of the leading group office and co-signee of the MOU, citing the Gates Foundation's experience in tackling extreme poverty, diseases and educational inequality across the globe.
"China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty in the past decades, but there are still 43.35 million impoverished people, and the fight will only be tougher as it enters the final stage," Lui told Xinhua.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation and founder of tech giant Microsoft, said China is the largest contributor to the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people in poverty worldwide.
"China's experience in innovation and its successful track record in poverty alleviation can provide invaluable lessons for other developing countries," he said.
The foundation pledges to support China through the final stages of its mission to eradicate absolute poverty and looks forward to helping the Chinese government in continuing its role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Gates said.
The two sides will conduct policy research in related fields and work to share their experiences with other developing nations so that they can better cope with their respective anti-poverty campaigns, according to Xinhua.
The Gates Foundation will also cooperate with the Chinese government in improving healthcare in the country's rural areas and nutrition for children in poor regions as well as financial support for poverty reduction.
