PD: The year 2015 sees the conclusion of the UN's Millennium Development Goals. The Chinese government and communities made great efforts in achieving the goals, and had seen remarkable progress. As a long-time global advocate of the MDGs, what is your view of China's progress? You once said that "China has rich experience in reducing poverty", so what China could do to share its experience in reducing poverty with other countries in Africa and Asia?

BG: China's success lifting 600 million out of poverty in just 30 years is one of the more remarkable stories in my lifetime. And it accounts for much of the world's progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goal on poverty reduction.

Agricultural development, for example, has been a driving force in reducing poverty in China. Today, China is a world leader in rice research, and it's lending that expertise to agricultural researchers in Africa and Asia, where rice yields are significantly lower. Our foundation supports China's Green Super Rice program, which is driving development and distribution of new rice varieties, tailored to local conditions, with higher yields and the ability to withstand extreme environmental conditions.

The Chinese government's commitment to science and technology has also been key to domestic poverty reduction, and it's another way China can help advance progress in other developing countries. We're excited that China's Ministry of Science and Technology will host the foundation's annual Grand Challenges meeting this year in Beijing. Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives established to fund and foster innovation to solve key global health and development problems.

PD: President Xi Jinping and other global leaders are meeting to agree on a new global development plan during the United Nations General Assembly this month. What is your view and expectation of these new Sustainable Development Goals? 

BG: As progress on the Millennium Development Goals over the last 15 years has demonstrated, the world community is definitely capable of solving big problems. The MDGs included just eight goals, which helped focus the world's attention on the most urgent problems—extreme poverty, deaths from preventable causes, gender inequality, and lack of access to education for children everywhere. The Sustainable Development Goals are even more ambitious, with twice as many goals. We are supportive of the new framework and the spirit of the global goals. Given our foundation's priorities and experience, we'll continue to focus our investments where we believe they can make the greatest impact - addressing the "unfinished agenda" of maternal, newborn, and child mortality, eliminating gender inequities that limit the contribution of women, and helping farming families in the poorest countries increase their productivity. 

PD: What role will China play in implementing these new Sustainable Development Goals? And what influence will China bring to the world? 

BG: Having led the world over the last 15 years in the annual rate of decline of both maternal and child mortality, China is a nation with immediate experience dealing with many of the challenges of the developing world.

China's public health assistance in West Africa during the Ebola epidemic is a sign of the country's growing willingness to take a leading role in tackling healthcare challenges in developing countries. Its innovation and low-cost manufacturing capacity is producing important technologies for global health, including new TB diagnostics, family planning solutions, HPV screening technology, and coolers that can keep vaccines cold and safe, without external refrigeration, for more than a month. 

China's increasing engagement in global development policy and financing is also a welcome addition. It played a leading role in the establishment of multilateral financial institutions such as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank. And China's ambitious plan for international cooperation - "One Belt, One Road" - and it's increasingly prominent role at APEC, G20, and other global forums is evidence that China is stepping up as a leader in global development.

PD: As a successful entrepreneur and a long-time contributor to China-U.S. cooperation, what is your comment on Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S? What significance does China-U.S. cooperation bear for the two countries and the world as a whole?

BG: Washington State has historically had very strong ties with China. In fact, it recently surpassed California and Texas as the largest state export partner in the U.S. Washington is also a significant importer of Chinese products. 

We see President Xi's visit to Seattle as an opportunity to continue to develop what is already a very strong relationship between China and our foundation. With China's capacity for innovation, R&D, and low-cost manufacturing of health and development solutions, it has become an important partner in the foundation's global initiatives, and we are committed to supporting China as it becomes an even stronger development partner for the rest of the world. 

PD: This year also marks the 15th anniversary of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation has been committed to important issues in health and development in China and around the world in the past decade. What new targets and plans does the foundation have for the future? Is there any new area that the foundation could cooperate with China? 

BG: Our work in China today has two purposes: to continue supporting China in its efforts to address domestic challenges, and to support China as a stronger development partner for the rest of the world. 

Our connection to China goes back to 2007, when we established our Beijing Representative Office and began working domestically on HIV prevention, tuberculosis control, and tobacco control. It has been great to see the progress China has made on these challenges, as well as in development of the country's philanthropic sector. Challenges do remain, however, and we are committed to continuing to work with our Chinese partners to address them. The high level of resistance to TB drugs in China is a particular concern.

We also are working with public and private sector partners to channel more Chinese innovation and expertise to countries in Africa and South Asia, including agricultural technologies and high-quality, low-cost vaccines. 

PD: China and the U.S. released the China-U.S. Joint Announcement on Climate Change last November, emphasizing on practical cooperation and the huge potential for cooperation in areas such as advanced coal technologies, nuclear energy, shale gas and renewable energy. As we know, you have been focusing on climate change issues, so what is your view on China's investment and efforts in new energy development and environment protection? Could you make a comment on the cooperative progress and challenges that China and U.S. face in tackling climate change issues? 

BG: We need to take immediate action if we are going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. The one thing, however, that is not being talked about nearly enough is that we need to dramatically increase the amount of resources we spend on creating the innovative new sources of energy that are affordable, reliable and do not emit CO2, the primary greenhouse gas causing climate change. Unfortunately, the tools we have that produce energy without contributing to climate change are too expensive and do not provide energy 24 hours a day; so we desperately new ways to generate, store, and deploy clean energy. Governments need to lead the way, but the private sector needs to step up also. The US, China, and other nations that lead the world in innovation need to spend far more resources on the very early stage research and development that support the really new and creative ideas on how we can generate power that is reliable, constant, and does not contribute to climate change. We need a doubling or a tripling of those resources to really speed innovation and provide lots of options to individuals to invest in. If we do that, I think we can stop the worst impacts of climate change. 

Global warming is going to have the biggest impact on poor farmers who will struggle to grow enough crops when the weather is hotter and more unpredictable. This issue is where our foundation is focusing its efforts. I hope world leaders take this year to consider the investments needed to help poor farmers.

But here too, innovation is key. The world needs China's help developing new agricultural tools tailored to the demands of a changing climate. Better varieties of seeds, like Green Super Rice, that can withstand drought, heat, cold and pests. Better delivery strategies to ensure that these technologies get into the hands of farmers. And better training to help poor farmers increase their yields and sell their crops at market.