Kathmandu: Binod Chaudhary, the Chairman of Chaudhary Group and a Member of Parliament, met with Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and renowned philanthropist, during the Philanthropy Asia Alliance-2025 (PA-2025) conference held in Singapore on Tuesday.
The meeting saw a serious discussion on the major challenges facing Nepal’s healthcare and employment sectors. During the conversation, Chaudhary expressed gratitude towards the Gates Foundation for their collaboration through initiatives such as the “Baliyo Nepal” campaign, aimed at addressing child nutrition, and their support in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic. Chaudhary also discussed the potential for expanding the long-standing partnership between Nepal’s social sector and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In a post on social media, Chaudhary shared a picture from the meeting, highlighting their conversation on further cooperation in these critical areas.
The discussion also included talks on how the Gates Foundation’s successful healthcare and employment programs, implemented in other countries, could be adapted and expanded in Nepal.
Following the 2015 earthquake, Chaudhary Foundation, the social wing of Chaudhary Group, contributed significantly to relief efforts by supporting the government’s relief programs and building nearly 3,000 earthquake-resistant temporary shelters in the affected districts. Additionally, the foundation contributed to school reconstruction and the distribution of food and clean water to the impacted communities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chaudhary Foundation continued its support by strengthening Nepal’s healthcare infrastructure. The foundation helped set up an intensive care unit (ICU) and an oxygen plant at Bir Hospital, and similar oxygen plants in Dhangadhi and Surkhet. Oxygen concentrators, personal protective equipment (PPE), PCR testing kits, and N95 masks were distributed across all seven provinces.
Bill Gates, who has supported various developing nations through his philanthropic foundation in areas such as healthcare, education, and technology, was one of the key attractions at the Philanthropy Asia Alliance-2025 conference in Singapore.
The conference, which saw the participation of global leaders, philanthropists, and policymakers, was also addressed by Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Bill Gates, Indonesia’s Minister of Human Development and Cultural Affairs Pratikno, WHO’s Chief Scientist Dr. Jeremy Farrar, and UNDP Assistant Administrator Susan Brown, among others.
Chaudhary, a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist from Nepal, also attended the conference, which aimed to open new doors for collaboration among philanthropic organizations to promote sustainable development and social justice in Asia.