By T V Mahalingam for the Economic Times.

Last week, the United Nations adopted 17 ambitious goals, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which aim to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years. Tech magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates’ has been on the forefront of the global fight against extreme poverty, thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which has an endowment of $ 41.3 billion. Gates has also lent his support to the Global Goals campaign, a brainchild of filmmaker Richard Curtis, which hopes to take popularise the 17 SDG goals with 7 billion people in 7 days. In an exclusive email interview with ET’s T V Mahalingam, Gates spoke about the these 17 audacious goals, why they are important and what India needs to do to achieve them.

How do the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) differ from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Your take?

When I first heard about the MDGs 15 years ago, I was cautiously optimistic that the eight specific targets with timelines, including goalsto reduceextreme poverty, improve maternalhealth, and cut child mortality, could catalyze global action on the issues that affect the most vulnerable communities. Over time, my optimism grew as they started to drive real progress.

Today, it’s clear that the MDGs have been instrumental infosteringglobal collaborationand accountability among wealthy and developing countries, the private sector, and NGOs. In particular, the targets for maternal and child mortality have been critical in focusing the world’s attention on the most urgent problems.