07.08.2015
The Ambassador of the Equatorial Guinea to the United Kingdom, met this morning with Mr. Hassan Al-Damluji, Head of Middle East Relations of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in London, to analyse and discuss ways of cooperation between the Government of Equatorial Guinea and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As an eminent donor country, both in Africa and in the rest of the world, Mr. Al-Damluji expressed satisfaction with Equatorial Guinea’s multiple initiatives and donations in recent years and applauded the Government’s generosity and solidarity through crucial assistance such as the US$30m donation to the FAO, the Equatorial Guinea Prize to the UNESCO, donations to the WHO for the Ebola crisis and the malaria vaccine programme, among others.
Ambassador Evuna Andeme emphasised the need and mutual benefit of a solid collaboration between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Equatorial Guinea in the field of assistance and donations to global communities and regions hit by dire humanitarian crisis, such as environmental or pandemics, where the most vulnerable populations need the solidarity of nations such as Equatorial Guinea and organisations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Ambassador Evuna and Mr. Al-Damluji agreed to further discussions on the modalities of a future cooperation, with special attention to the Global Fund initiative, an organisation that mobilises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs to fight pandemic diseases in the world, and whose membership includes organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coca-Cola and Chevron, among others and 10 world powers (none African). Equatorial Guinea could be the first country on the continent to be part of the Global Fund, thus consolidating its policy of solidarity and support to human devastation around the world.