Bill Gates hopes that one day, countries will compete to be the most generous.

For example, when he looks at China’s investments in health and development projects in parts of Africa, he doesn’t just see a global adversary with whom the U.S. is teetering on the edge of a trade war—he sees a country providing support where it’s needed most, he said during a talk last June at SAIS.

Years ago, Gates said, China’s economy wouldn’t have sustained such economic investment in other countries. Now it’s a major player on the international stage.

“Hopefully the U.S. will be more generous as China has become more generous,” he said. “I hope countries will compete in generosity when it comes to the developing world.”

The billionaire founder of Microsoft visited SAIS to discuss philanthropy and health leadership around the world. A business magnate and humanitarian, he co-founded with his wife the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 to enhance health care and reduce extreme poverty around the world, and to increase access to education and technology in the U.S.

Gates planned his visit to coincide with an invitation from Congress to testify about U.S. investment in foreign aid, which Gates considers a crucial part of improving health around the world.

During his talk—which was moderated by Cinnamon Dornsife, associate practitioner-in-residence and senior advisor of international development at SAIS, and Jeremy Shiffman, a recently appointed Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of global health policy—Gates discussed the importance of U.S. investment in the developing world, especially in terms of health.

— Saralyn Cruickshank, Johns Hopkins Hub