Expectations high on Gates' visit

Andi Haswidi ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 05/07/2008 12:54 AM  |  Headlines

Bill Gates, founder of the world's largest software company, Microsoft Corporation, is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on Thursday.

Gates will be the main speaker at the nation's Presidential Lecture on Friday. He is also scheduled to meet with the government to discuss funding, under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for the research and production of a human bird flu vaccine.

As one of the world's most influential people, Gates' visit is expected to improve investor perception of the country's current investment climate, the government said.

His visit is also expected to improve education quality by allowing students greater access to information and communication technology.

The government is seeking to obtain software from Microsoft for 1 million computers for educational purposes, Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said.

"In high and junior high schools there is only one computer for every 1,000 students. We want to improve this to at least one computer for every 20 students," he said.

In relation to the plan to develop bird flu vaccines, Aburizal said the government had recently met with foundation officials in Singapore to talk about the plan, but no funding amount had been discussed.

Gates will address about 1,500 government officials and business representatives and 1,000 students at the Presidential Lecture to be held as part of Microsoft's annual Government Leadership Forum (GLF).

Gates will discuss the trends within the next digital decade and how to adapt.

It will be the country's fifth Presidential Lecture. Previous speakers included economist Jeffrey Sachs on the UN's Millennium Development Goals, former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern on climate change, former Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Azis on governing Pakistan during turmoil and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus on microfinancing.

The theme of this year's GLF is "Serving the citizen: the transformative power of information technology in delivering government services".

The forum will be attended by 250 top Asian government officials.

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