‘Extreme Poverty Has Gone Down'

Bill Gates says India is the second biggest contributor to poverty reduction after China.

- Shereen Bhan

On September 18, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released its report card on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 that the United Nations members adopted in 2015. In an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, Bill Gates talks about targets that are attainable, those that are aspirational, and the political risks that could come in the way of achieving them. Edited excerpts:

Q Let’s talk about the Goalkeepers report which you first published in 2017. In it you said there is more doubt than usual about the world’s commitment to development. Do you believe that there is less political will today to try and address the developmental needs of the world?

When you have a financial crisis (like in 2008) or the Syrian civil war with lots of refugees, the world is going to get fairly short-term as countries turn a bit inward when they are facing those challenges. The longterm issues of getting rid of extreme poverty, solving climate change, innovating, say for farmers, so that they can deal with new climate and still be themselves… can get squeezed away. So, yes, it is always a risk that countries are turning inward and certainly there are political leaders now who are more nationalistic than thinking about all of humanity.

Q Melinda Gates said the report was meant to be a wake-up call to leaders of certain countries. Has it got the attention of the leaders you were hoping to address?

I think it is impressive that the aid commitments have been maintained despite this wave of more inward-looking politics. The US maintained its aid levels, the UK was generous —all the way up to 0.7 percent (of gross national income). Germany’s aid budget has gone up, France is committed to increasing theirs.