ISLAMABAD: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote a letter to President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday, thanking him for "warmly welcoming" the billionaire philanthropist on his first-ever visit to Pakistan in February and saying that his foundation looked forward to "deepening" its relationship with the Pakistan government to tackle issues of "shared interests".

During his day-long visit in February, Gates had held separate meetings with the president and Prime Minister Imran Khan. He had also visited the now-defunct National Command and Operation Centre, which spearheaded the country's Covid-19 response, and lauded Pakistan for its efforts to end polio.

President Alvi had conferred the Hilal-i-Pakistan award — one of the country’s highest civil awards — on him during the trip.

In his letter to the president, Gates said it was a "pleasure" meeting him and an honour to receive the award.

He said he was "glad" to discuss challenges of "vital importance" with Alvi such as stunting, malnutrition, family planning and social protection programmes.

"I look forward to a deepening partnership between the government of Pakistan and our [Bill and Melinda Gates] Foundation to tackle these and other issues of shared interest," the letter read.

He commended the president's "ongoing high-level commitment" to protecting the health and wellbeing of Pakistan's children, including efforts to secure a polio-free future for upcoming generations.

Gates reiterated in the letter that Pakistan had made "remarkable progress" in its fight against "wild poliovirus" with no case recorded for over a year. However, he noted that the circulation of the disease persisted in southern Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

Gates said President Alvi's "continued engagement on polio would go a long way to accelerating Pakistan's continued progress [in eradicating polio]."

He ended the note saying "I hope we can speak again soon".