European Commissioner meets with Bill Gates in Brussels

European Commissioner Carlos Moedas has held a meeting with Bill Gates, founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The meeting in Brussels saw Moedas and Gates discuss joint efforts between the European Commission and the Foundation to tackle malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.

In comments carried on Portugal’s news website ‘Sol’, Moedas stressed: “To eradicate diseases such as TB and malaria, it is compulsory to join forces. There has to be advanced research and there has to be concerted action between the EU and the states, with the participation of the private sector and philanthropy”.

Moedas and Gates also discussed the work of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2) initiative, which sees the Commission and the Foundation collaborate in the fight against poverty-related diseases. EDCTP2 has a budget of €2bn over the next ten years.