Billionaire Bill Gates on Tuesday kicked off the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, praising the positive impact the Middle East can play in helping to eradicate diseases and improving the lives of the poor.
The Microsoft founder said the Middle East’s relationships with leaders in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan enables international healthcare workers to access remote areas in order to vaccinate against diseases such as polio.
“This region can play a pivotal role in improving the lives of the poor. The leaders and citizens here can reach out as partners to countries where they have special access and special kinship – areas where the rest of the world doesn’t have the standing to intervene in the way that leaders here can do,” he said.
The region’s rising wealth coupled with its increasing investment in technology can also help in the fight against poverty, he added.
“The great cultural tradition in Islam already makes this region a natural leader in solving the problems of the poor. Your rising prosperity and technological skill gives you the power to advance the humanitarian agenda.
“Your innovative new media gives you a chance to raise your voice for the poor – and change the world for everyone.
Gates, who in 2008 said he would step back from Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic work, urged the region to make access to technology available to the poor.
“As you deepen your research into technology, I want to exhort you to do something that the West largely neglected to do for a very long time.
“For too long, we in the west worked almost exclusively to develop and apply technology to meet the needs of the rich world, only for those who could pay.
“As you grow into a world hub for research, I hope you constantly search for ways to apply technology to help people who can’t pay,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gates signed an agreement with the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, believed to be worth around $277m, as part of his charity’s aim to gain Middle East support for its multi-billion-dollar fight to eradicate polio.
The agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is for a five-year programme and will cover projects mainly in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, Ahmad Mohamed Ali, chairman and president of Islamic Development Bank, told the Saudi Press Agency.
Last month, Gates, who is believed to be worth around $66bn, said he is aiming to raise $1bn over six years to help in the fight to eradicate the disease.
Follow us on
