Bill Gates to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday during his visit to the country.

The meeting will mark Xi Jinping’s first-ever meet with a foreign private entrepreneur in a long time. The people said the encounter may be a one-on-one meeting. A third source confirmed they would meet, without providing details.

On Wednesday Gates tweeted that he had landed in Beijing, his first visit since 2019. He said that during his visit he will meet with partners who had been working on global health and development challenges with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

I’ve just landed in Beijing for the first time since 2019, where I’m excited to visit with partners who have been working on global health and development challenges with @gatesfoundation for more than 15 years.

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) June 14, 2023

Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in 2020 to focus on philanthropic works related to global health, education and climate change. He quit his full-time executive role at Microsoft in 2008.

The last public and known interaction between Jingping and Gates happened in 2015 when they met on the sidelines of the Boao Forum in Hainan province. In early 2020, Xi wrote a letter to Gates thanking him, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for pledging assistance to China including $5 million for the country’s fight against COVID-19.

The meeting will put an end to Jinping’s hiatus that kept him from meeting foreign private entrepreneurs and business leaders since he stopped flying abroad in view of the COVID health emergency.

Several foreign CEOs have visited China since it reopened early this year but most have mainly met with government ministers.

Gates’ visit also comes ahead of a long-delayed visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China set to take place between June 18-19 which is aimed at stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies and strategic rivals.

With inputs from agencies

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