Bill Gates, the co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, attended the EEI 2023 event in Austin, Texas, USA, on Monday, June 12, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to a report by Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The meeting will be Xi’s first with a foreign CEO in recent years, as he had refrained from traveling overseas for almost three years after China closed its borders during the pandemic.
Reuters stated that the meeting could be a one-on-one discussion, but did not provide any specific details about the agenda.
CNBC reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.
In 2015, the two men met on the sidelines of the Boao forum in Hainan province, where they discussed enhancing public health services and poverty reduction, according to China’s foreign ministry.
Gates tweeted on Wednesday that he had arrived in Beijing to visit partners who have been working on global health and development challenges for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is his first visit since 2019.
The billionaire stepped down as Microsoft’s board chair in March 2020 to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities, including global health, development, education, and his involvement in addressing climate change. He officially left his full-time executive role at Microsoft in 2008.
Gates’ visit comes ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s long-awaited trip to China this weekend, aimed at stabilizing relations between the two largest economies in the world.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Blinken spoke on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to manage the U.S.-China relationship and avoid misunderstandings and conflicts, according to the U.S. State Department.
Other foreign tech leaders, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have also recently met with Chinese ministers.
In March, Cook met with China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao to discuss China’s reopening and broader supply chain issues. Musk met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and other top officials in China in May, as Beijing aims to create a favorable business environment for foreign companies amidst tensions with the U.S. government.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
