Chinese President meets Bill Gates

BOAO, Hainan, March 28 -- Chinese President Xi Jinpingmet here Saturday with U.S. billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to exchange views on enhancing public health service, improving people's health and poverty reduction.

Xi pointed out that preventing and controlling public epidemics is a common challenge to the international community and requires strengthening international cooperation on joint control.

Xi said enhancing public health service and securing people's health constitutes an important task and has attracted great attention from the Chinese government. He said China is ready to continue cooperation with Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation in this respect.

Xi emphasized that China places great importance on and have made major achievements on poverty reduction and relief. But he said China has yet to make and is making great effort on poverty reduction so as to achieve the goal of building a moderately prosperous society by 2020.

Xi said China will take an active part in the post-2015 UN development agenda and is ready to work with the international community on poverty reduction.

Gates, co-chair of Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, said China has offered a great deal of resources in joint effort with the international community to address the Ebola epidemics. He said China has also done a remarkable job in controlling AIDS disease. He said China has erected a model for the rest of the world by playing a leading role in poverty reduction.

Gates expressed the readiness to further strengthen cooperation with China on public health.

On the same day, Xi also met with Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union(ITU) in Boao.