The theme of the conference, which will be held digitally on Tuesday, is to settle the status quo after two years of pandemic, and discuss what solutions the world now needs.
A handful of leading thinkers, politicians, business leaders, organizations and academia have gathered at the conference to discuss how the world community can achieve the hair-raising goals of eradicating poverty and meeting the zero-emission climate target by 2030.
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Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of several prominent guests at the conference.
Gates has for a number of years demonstrated leadership in global health and development. He believes we are facing a critical year in 2022.
Gates begins by thanking the other participants at the conference for focusing on the sustainability goals, which he points out expire in two years. Then he goes on to a tribute to Norway, which he believes is an inspiration for the whole world.
Tributes to Norway
– I would especially like to pay tribute to the Norwegian government for their impressive global leadership, both before and during the covid-19 pandemic. Everything from their generous assistance abroad every year, to their support within a wide range of critical health and development issues, Norway is a model that the world can be inspired by, says Gates.
“The fact that you support some of the most effective institutions in global health has been crucial to the progress we have made in the last 20 years,” he says.
Gates also praises Norway for its efforts in global vaccine collaboration.
– Norway is an original Gavi donor. Norway is also one of the founders of CEPI, and hosts CEPI, and our foundation is honored to work with you in the process of accelerating the mRNA vaccine around the world, and especially during the pandemic, says Gates.
Gates also praises Norway for being an important contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He also points out that Norway is the most generous donor in the world if one divides the sum per capita.
– Their further contribution to the response mechanisms for covid-19 has been critically crucial to ensure that we do not lose control of other existing epidemics while we have fought this pandemic, he says.
The UN’s sustainability goals expire soon
Gates then calls for committed and focused cooperation across different sectors to achieve the UN’s sustainability goals, ie the world’s joint work plan to eradicate poverty, combat inequality and halt climate change by 2030.
– With only eight years left before the sustainability goals expire, 2022 must be a year of action. It will require efforts from everyone – that states, philanthropists, independent organizations and the private business community commit to a focused collaboration to achieve our collective goals by 2030, says Gates.
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Other participants in the conference are Professor Thomas Piketty at the Paris School of Economics, Director Fatih Birol at the International Energy Agency (IEA), Achim Steiner who heads the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Minister for Development Aid Anne Beathe Tvinnereim (Sp), Ola Rosling at the Gapminder Foundation and Norad director Bård Vegar Solhjell.
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