Gates Sees Slump in `Rich-World' Generosity From Market Crisis

Gates Sees Slump in `Rich-World' Generosity From Market Crisis 

By Bill Varner

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates said the U.S. financial crisis would likely reduce support of Western governments for programs to combat hunger, poverty and disease to which his foundation has contributed $17 billion.

``There are the rich-world economies and the developing- world economies and, while the degree to which they are linked is not well understood, when one suffers it can't be good for the other,'' Gates said in a Bloomberg News interview yesterday after speaking at a United Nations event in New York. ``Rich- world budgets may not have room for increased generosity.''

Gates addressed the financial market meltdown after announcing that theSeattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will commit $66 million to a UN initiative to help 350,000 poor farmers in 21 African and Asian nations increase productivity. The program will provide farmers with equipment and irrigation techniques and show them how to improve processing and storage of crops.

The worst financial upheaval since the Great Depression is dominating speeches and meetings of the more than 100 world leaders gathered for the opening of the UN General Assembly. The U.S. has come under attack from friends and foes alike for creating an economic crisis that threatens UN goals for reducing poverty, hunger and disease.

Generosity is one aspect of the so-called Millennium Development Goals, ``along with scientific advances and good governance,'' Gates said.

Hunger Goal

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that no country is on course to achieve all of the goals, which include halving chronic hunger by 2015.

Rising food prices in the past year have added 75 million hungry people in the world, bringing the total to 923 million, according to Josette Sheeran, executive director of the UN's World Food Program. Another 100 million may have to be added next year, she said.

The Rome-based agency plans to feed 90 million people this year, in part by using $1 billion in food purchased from farmers in 80 poor nations. Almost 90 percent of WFP recipients are farmers who can't grow enough to feed themselves or their families, or to sell, she said.

The ``Purchase for Progress'' program is also getting $9.1 million from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and $750,000 from the government of Belgium.Howard Buffett is the son of Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Sheeran said the WFP will sign three-year contracts with farmers, giving them the security to invest in new equipment and storage facilities and to form cooperatives.

``The goal is to have these markets self-sustaining,'' Gates said.

The Gates Foundation has given priority to research on a group of infectious diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. The foundation announced plans in April to increase spending on farm projects by 50 percent this year, to about $240 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations atwvarner@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 24, 2008 17:51 EDT

CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile