President Moon Jae-in and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have agreed to strengthen cooperation for developing treatments for COVID-19 as important partners to maintain close communication. On April 10th, the two had a 25-minute telephone conversation at the request of Gates, who is also co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charity organization, and are also helping the international community to fight the pandemic, Seoul’s top official said. Moon also thanked the Gates Foundation for its support for the International Vaccine Institute for Research and development of vaccines based in Seoul. Gates also invested in the non-governmental organization Right Fund with South Korea’s health ministry and local biopharmaceutical companies to help developing countries. President Moon expressed hope to extend a helping hand to the countries vulnerable to infectious diseases through continued cooperation with the Gates Foundation. President Moon said, “I think efforts to develop treatments are as important as vaccine development,” adding, “Korea is making efforts to develop treatments by providing strong support to various research institutes and pharmaceutical companies.” Gates said it would help reduce the death toll as well as ease the burden on medical staff on the importance of treatment. He also praised the government for supplying virus test kits to developing countries, saying South Korea’s response system has become a model for the world.