On 16 January 2024, a delegation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), led by Mr. Vishal Gujadhur, Deputy Director of Development Policy and Finance, and Ms. Grace Lang, Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations of BMGF China Country Office, visited the China-IMF Capacity Development Center (CICDC) office in Beijing. The CICDC’s director, Mr. Hui He, and two staff members welcomed the BMGF team.

With the support of the People’s Bank of China, the CICDC worked with the BMGF China Country Office in 2023 to contribute to global knowledge sharing and advocacy on digital finance and gender inclusion. Leveraging the technical expertise of the IMF, the collaboration is intended to produce a set of case studies that will provide insights into financial inclusion and gender gaps in China, comparative analysis of the financial digitization models of China and India, and the rise of central bank digital currency and payment systems in China. Through the training courses spearheaded by the CICDC, the intellectual output will help raise awareness and build capacity across a broad network of policymakers reaching multiple sectors in China as well as Belt and Road Initiative countries.

From left to right: Mr. Nick Fan, Senior Program Officer for development finance, BMGF China Country Office; Mr. Hui He, Director, CICDC; Ms. Grace Lang, Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations, BMGF China Country Office; Ms. Heather Yang, Senior Program Officer, Office of the President, BMGF; Mr. Vishal Gujadhur, Deputy Director of Development Policy and Finance, BMGF; Ms. Danni Sun, Program Officer of Development Policy and Finance, BMGF; Ms. Sijia Gao, Senior Course Administrator, CICDC; Ms. Xueke Song, Office Manager, CICDC

During the meeting, the parties discussed the progress of the collaboration and swapped ideas on other potential joint activities.