This refers to Khalil Hanware’s report, “$2.5bn fund: IDB, Gates declare war on poverty,” published in Arab News on June 26.

It’s heartening to note that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and billionaire entrepreneur Bill Gates have planned to establish a $2.5 billion fund for the poor.

It’s a welcome step that IDB has pooled in great entrepreneurs and philanthropists like Gates to wage a war against poverty.

Let’s see if this becomes a stepping-stone for bringing about any extent of change in the lives of the poor children in the world.

Gates says about IDB President Ahmed Mohammed Ali and a host of other partners in the Middle East that they have been “hugely helpful in fighting challenges such as polio and malaria.” I think the good works being done by Muslim nations are consciously marginalized with sinister aim to portray the Muslim world in a negative light.

What I deduce from the meeting of Bill Gates and the IDB is that the Muslim world needs a powerful media of its own to counter such negative propaganda and put things in perspective.

Bravo Bill Gates and IDB. We salute them with due respect for their good works for humanity.