We are here for the nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.  We are here for the 15,000 people that were infected with HIV today, and the 15,000 more that will likely be infected tomorrow and every day after that.  We are here for the 40 million children who will be orphaned because of AIDS by the year 2010.

  We are here because a mother died today.  We are here because a child died today and another lost his mother.
  We have an obligation to ensure that every citizen of this earth, that we share, can look forward to a healthy and productive future.

  If this was a war that was killing millions of people, maiming millions more, leaving millions homeless, devastating countries would we stand by - we would have intervened agressively - as we did in the Second World War - this is a war- it is bigger than any war we ever fought before.

  This pandemic is a major obstacle to our International Development Target to reduce by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. It also foils our efforts to reduce infant and child mortality rates by two thirds by that same year.

  We are here to make sure that every possible effort is taken to try to prevent every single new infection.  To make sure that every single person infected or affected by HIV/AIDS has access to the most comprehensive care, treatment and support available.  To make sure that the rights of all individuals and groups are protected and respected everywhere, particularly those most vulnerable to HIV such as women and girls, men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users, and sex workers.

  This means an intensified commitment at the international, national and community levels, and this means involving civil society and people living with HIV/AIDS in every aspect of our efforts.

  This U.N. Session marks the  turning point in our struggle against this terrible disease.  It's been twenty years, and we still have a long way to go, so let us forge ahead based on what we know works. Prevention works, and must be the mainstay of our response. Comprehensive approaches work, and must fully integrate prevention with care, support and treatment for all those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. These approaches must also reinforce the linkages between HIV/AIDS, basic education, human rights and good governance.

  In order to meet the targets outlined in the Declaration of Commitment, we need to make progress on all fronts.
  In Canada we have a leading-edge Strategy on HIV/AIDS which is meeting our own unique challenges, while also linking our efforts with those at the international level.  This involves acting locally but thinking globally.

  On the global front, Canada is quadrupling its development assistance funding for HIV/AIDS.

  We have an HIV/AIDS Action Plan which is a blueprint for how we will support international initiatives in areas such as prevention, education, community development, research in vaccine and microbicide development, and preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

  In fact this morning, I committed over $73 million for HIV and AIDS programming in Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.

  On another front, Canada has been instrumental in the shaping of the Global Fund on AIDS and Health. We will support it financially. We are committed to making it operational by the end of the year.  We cannot afford to fail.

There has been some progress in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.  The Declaration of Commitment to be endorsed on Wednesday is an opportunity to make a quantum leap forward.  It is now up to each and every one of us to take ownership of the Declaration and do what is necessary to end this epidemic.