“We shared, I think, the assessment of the fact that the best way of building security for our own citizens is investing in development in the rest of the world,” said EU top diplomat Federcia Mogherini. Development outside the EU is the best investment for Europeans in their own security and stability continued Mogherini, following a meeting with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mogherini and Gates discussed the work both the EU and the Foundation are doing to help developing countries reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“There are so many things that are improving in terms of living conditions, decrease of children mortality for instance. So we see that change can happen – is already happening – but it requires us to work really hard and together to achieve that,” Mogherini said.

The EU and its Member States are the World’s leading provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance, but also a major economic actor throughout the world. Last year, the EU launched the European External Investment Plan, which aims to encourage private sector investment in developing countries.

Photo: Bill Gates in European Commission, Brussels