(Beijing) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will be received by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday on his first trip to the country in more than three years, state television CCTV said.
Such a meeting is very rare for an American businessman, only a handful have been received individually by Mr. Xi, including Apple boss Tim Cook and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
Arrived Wednesday evening in the Chinese capital, the American billionaire said he was coming to meet partners of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the subjects of health and development.
His foundation announced on Thursday that it would donate $50 million to support Chinese efforts in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis.
It will also renew its cooperation with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) – founded in Beijing by Bill Gates -, the municipal authorities of Beijing and officials of the prestigious Tsinghua University.
“China has made tremendous progress in reducing poverty and improving health in the country,” Gates said Thursday during a speech at GHDDI.
“I hope China can play an even greater role in addressing current challenges, especially those facing African countries,” he added.
With this trip, the co-founder of Microsoft is following in the footsteps of several other behemoths of the American economy, in particular the boss of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX, Elon Musk, who came in May.
Mr. Musk had notably met with government officials and visited the huge factory of his brand of electric cars in Shanghai, where he was able to interact with the staff.
JPMorgan Chase bank CEO Jamie Dimon, another major player, visited the country earlier this month, while Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Beijing in March. He praised his company’s “symbiotic” relationship with China.
Other big American bosses like that of Starbucks or General Motors have also gone to China in recent weeks to meet with representatives of the Chinese government.
Business travel has picked up since China scrapped its so-called “zero COVID-19” health policy and reopened its borders this year.