Today's Date:

May I begin by welcoming the holding of this Special Session. AIDS, which was for a long time regarded as a health problem reserved for specialised fora, is at last being seen for what it is: a terrible scourge, a major obstacle to demographic, social and economic development and, in the most severely affected regions, a threat to political stability; in short, as a major political problem necessitating targeted, global responses and the mobilization of everyone. This is the first victory.

A second victory awaits us at the end of the Session: we are going to acknowledge that it is essential to combine prevention with access to treatment, and that effective prevention cannot exist without access to care and treatment of every kind, including antiretrovirals.

Since 1997, France has been in the vanguard of this combat, especially through the establishment of an International Therapeutic Solidarity Fund, and I am very glad that a consensus is today emerging on this.

Much remains for us to do.

First of all, we must provide support for the care and treatment systems which have been so severely battered and disorganized by the pandemic.

Together with several other European countries, France is proposing, in addition to her bilateral cooperation, a hospital solidarity initiative. By twinning European hospitals with hospitals in countries wishing to do so, especially in Africa, health professionals in the North will help their colleagues in the South fight this scourge.

The prices of drugs and reagents must be lowered even further so that the greatest number of people have access to them.

Manufacturers must determinedly adopt a differentiated price policy. Europe is willing to help them in this. It should moreover be possible to allow the manufacture of generics in third countries, so that real benefit is seen from the flexible terms provided for by the agreements on intellectual property rights. Technology transfers must also be encouraged.

Prevention and treatment must be developed everywhere, in the community, in the workplace and so on. Let us, however, be mindful of ensuring equitable access to all whether they work in the formal or informal economies.

Even though France devotes over FF 100 million of her bilateral assistance annually to fighting AIDS, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced a further, very significant effort a few days ago. 10% of the poorest countries' cancelled debt, i.e. a billion euro over the next ten years, will be allocated to combating AIDS. France will also make a contribution of EUR 150 million over three years to setting up the Global AIDS and Health Fund, proposed by the Secretary-General which will also be used to finance action against malaria and tuberculosis. We wish this fund to finance preventive measures and programmes to provide the sick with access to treatment. Lastly, we are asking for some IDA to be earmarked for the fight against AIDS in the form of grants.

Today, everything is in place for a new phase in the battle: political mobilization, lower-priced drugs, the funding needed for bolstering prevention and treatment policies.

But the war still has to be won.

Despite the panoply at our disposal for beating back the disease, we are incapable of treating several thousand people, of providing several hundred thousand pregnant women with treatment and care, and of reaching the rural areas of the least developed countries. Until now, we have transposed the treatment and care methods used by the wealthy Northern economies into a few teaching hospitals in African capitals. The problem is that these methods are not suitable, given the vast numbers of sufferers in need of treatment.

This is why the French government is proposing that an international meeting on the theme "From Commitment to Action" be convened in Dakar on 30 November and 1 December this year. The aim of the meeting will be to reach a political consensus on the methods to be used. For millions of sick people, nothing could be more hope-destroying than knowing that the money is there while at the same time seeing nothing change.

I wish to thank not only the Secretary-General and President Wade of Senegal for their personal endorsement of this initiative, but also Ms Brundtland and Dr Peter Piot for their support in the preparation of the meeting.

Lastly, I wish to stress that the rights of certain particularly vulnerable groups, whether or not they are infected - I am referring to women and children, homosexuals, prostitutes, migrants - are still ignored. Yet, even in countries like mine where the disease is being contained, these people are still being infected despite prevention policies. From a public health standpoint, it is inadmissible today not to admit this reality./.