EU Presidency Statement - UNAIDS - ECOSOC

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to address this agenda item on behalf of the EU.The acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the countries associated with the EU - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey - as well as the EFTA country Norway - have aligned themselves with this statement.

We welcome the excellent report issued by the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS or "The Programme") prepared pursuant to Council Resolution 2001/23. The EU notes with satisfaction the positive results of the five years evaluation of UNAIDS, which recognised several successes achieved by the programme particularly at the global level and suggested that greater efforts were needed in support of national responses.

The EU is deeply concerned about the effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on economic growth and development. And is convinced of the need for a comprehensive approach to reducing the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB). The EU is also deeply concerned by the current expansion of the epidemic. The first part of the report presents an alarming picture. Since the adoption of the Declaration, the epidemic has continued to expand in many regions, including in some countries where the mortality rate could soon equal that of Sub-Saharan Africa. This emphasises the need for continued effort on prevention and care. The EU is also concerned by the feminisation of HIV/AIDS. We welcome, in this respect, UNAIDS global advocacy initiative on women and AIDS and call for others to step up their efforts to tackle the special problems faced by women and girls.

The EU reaffirms its commitment to the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted in June 2001 by the Special Session of the General Assembly (UNGASS). The Declaration sets out a number of concrete deliverables to aim for. This helps us all work more effectively together in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

The EU has demonstrated its commitment to the outcomes of the Millennium Summit and HIV/AIDS UNGASS in the fight against HIV/AIDS by taking several actions at the policy and financial level as well as through international co-operation.

In February 2001 the European Commission adopted a comprehensive and coherent "Programme for Action on Communicable Disease", which seeks to mobilise development policy, trade and research instruments, and financial policies to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The EU is also taking action on drug procurement that addresses every aspect of the issue: financing mechanisms; international pricing; licensing mechanisms; intellectual property rights; tariffs. We are also working on appropriate incentives to increase investments in global health, including through working with key pharmaceutical companies. In the conviction that research and development is a key component both in the health and social field, the EU has decided to increase its commitment to R&D in the area of new treatments to fight the disease of poverty.

At the financial level, the European Union and its Member States provide more than 50% of all development assistance and 65% of world assistance for social sector issues such as HIV/AIDS, education, health and population in developing countries. At the 2002 Monterrey UN Conference on Financing for Development, the EU decided to raise its development aid from a collective average level of 0.33 percent currently, to 0.39 percent of GNP by the year 2006, while remaining committed to the 0.7 per cent target. The EU contributed US$472 million to the Global Fund in 2001-2002 and is prepared to make a longer-term sustainable contribution, as indicated at the 16 July Paris Conference on GFATM.

The pace of the epidemic is accelerating faster than the capacity of the global community to respond, but we cannot allow this situation to continue. The EU considers the role of UNAIDS, with its special expertise, extremely important. Leadership, advocacy, provision of strategic information, monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic and actions responding to it, partnership development and resource mobilisation are essential elements of the global response. The roles of UNAIDS and the Global Fund are complementary and we welcome the Memorandum of Understanding between them. UNAIDS also has a key role in supporting governments to align the efforts of multiple actors; in co-ordinating the UN system response in line with national priorities and systems, particularly the poverty reduction strategy processes and sector-wide approaches, and in promoting overall harmonisation of donor efforts at global and regional level. UNAIDS, in its co-ordinating role, should help in strengthening national capacity in multisectorial responses to tackle HIV/AIDS.

In conclusion, we share the Secretary-General's vision for a UN that is uniquely positioned to help the world deal with critical global issues such as the fight against HIV/AIDS. We salute the decision by the 57th General Assembly at the end of 2002 to hold a special meeting on 22 September 2003 dedicated to HIV/AIDS. The EU believes that renewed efforts and stronger commitments from the world's leaders are needed to win the fight against this terrible pandemic. We are willing to play our part.

Thank you Mr. President.

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