RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 29. As
countries reduce emissions, they should also continue helping out
the poorest, said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, addressing the panel discussions on philanthropy
held as part of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) annual
meetings in Riyadh,
Trend reports.
“COP28 significantly exceeded my expectations. Not only was it
hosted very well, but the spirit of the businesses coming into it
was also very impressive to me.
As we scale it up, we need to get the cost to come
down. Sadly, we are not going to meet the most ambitious goals. And
so at the same time, as we reduce emissions, which they call
mitigation, we also have to continue to help out the poorest, not
by diverting money away from the things we're doing but by thinking
about health as even more important,” he said.
Gates noted that the world still needs education.
“So it's all still in this development framework.
With climate being a headwind, that makes development even harder
than if we didn't have that there. I don't think we're going to
miss the goal by a dramatic amount. We need some of these
innovations; we need to actually surprise people with how quickly
we bring them into practice and how quickly we scale them up,” he
said.
Gates said he cannot overstate the impact that AI is going to
have on every field of human endeavor, whether it's discovering new
drugs for healthcare intervention, whether it's delivering medical
advice, or whether it's giving every kid a personal tutor that
talks to them in their language and not only understands the
subject area but also understands their motivation and how to keep
them engaged in a particular topic.
“There was kind of a breakthrough in this area with
Chat GPT less than two years ago. So, we are at the very earliest
age for this,” he added.
The Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) is holding its 2024
Annual Meetings and Golden Jubilee in Riyadh from April 27–30,
under the Royal Patronage of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques,
King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
The 2024 Annual Meetings are being held under the
theme “Cherishing Our Past, Charting Our Future: Originality,
Solidarity, and Prosperity," which marks IsDB’s 50 years of
fostering socio-economic development in its member countries.
Among other topics, the meetings also featured a roundtable on
COP29 with the participation of Azerbaijani government
representatives.
As the premier South-South multilateral development
bank, the 2024 IsDB Group Annual Meetings and Golden Jubilee
attract international and regional attention.
The annual meetings feature a series of side events with
top-level panelists from government, international and regional
organizations, the private sector, academia, and civil society.
Ministers of Economy, Planning, and Finance from
IsDB's 57 member countries are participating in the event, along
with representatives of international and regional financial
institutions, Islamic banks, private sector companies, national and
international development finance institutions, international and
regional organizations, NGOs, chambers of commerce and industry,
and business councils.
