Qatar has teamed up with American billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates to combat poverty.
Representatives from the Qatar Development Fund pledged $50 million to the Lives and Livelihood Fund, a $2.5 billion fund established by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank, in an effort to provide financing for some of the world's poorest Muslim countries through grants and shariah-compliant loans at below market rates.
This isn't the first time Qatar and the richest man on the planet join forces. “This country has been very generous with foreign aid for a long time,” Gates said, according to Doha News .
More than eight years ago, Gates met Chairperson of Qatar Foundation Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to talk about development aid. In 2015, the Qatar Development Fund and Bill Gates joined forces to fight disease and extreme poverty in the Arab and Muslim world.
The fund's projects will focus on four areas including infectious diseases control and eradication, primary healthcare, agriculture and food security, and basic infrastructure.
Both the Islamic Development Bank and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have each pledged $100 million into the fund and are hoping to raise $500 million in total. Founded in 1975, IDB is a Jeddah-based organization working to better the economic and social stance of Muslim countries across the world.