“Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met with Bill Gates,” co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “at the Great Hall of the People, calling for closer cooperation between [the foundation] and its Chinese partners on medical care, agriculture and technology,” Xinhua/China Daily reports. Xi told Gates “that he appreciates the organization’s enduring dedication to improving the health and living conditions of human beings,” according to the news service, which adds Xi also “applauded the foundation’s commitment to eliminating poverty and preventing and treating diseases globally, as well as its cooperation with Chinese partners in areas including health care, agriculture and technology.”

“The vice president said he hopes that the foundation and its Chinese partners will effectively implement their cooperative projects and explore more means of cooperation,” Xinhua writes. “He added that the development of the partnership between China and the United States not only benefits the people of the two nations, but also helps to promote the peace and development of the world at large,” the news service notes (5/30).