Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
The Facilitators,.
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please let me first hail the event constituted by this Special Session. AIDS, which was fob 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 barrier in the way of demographic, social and economic development and, in the most severely affected regions, a threat to political stability; in short, as a political problem which demands targeted, comprehensive responses and the mobilization of everyone. This is the first victory.

A second victory awaits us at the end of the Session. We shall acknowledge that it is essential to join prevention with access to treatment, and that effective prevention cannot exist without access to therapy, every sort of therapy, including antiretroviral drugs. Since 1997, France has been in the vanguard of this combat, especially in the establishment of an International Therapeutic Solidarity Fund, and I am very glad to see that a consensus is emerging on this now.

Much remains for us to do.

1 - First of all, we must provide support for the care systems which have been so severely battered and disorganized by the pandemic.
France, together with several other European countries, proposes, in addition to its bilateral cooperation action, a hospital therapeutic-solidarity initiative. By twinning European hospitals with hospitals in countries that want to do so, especially in Africa, North health professionals will aid their South colleagues in fighting this scourge.

2 - The prices of drugs and reagents must be lowered even further so that more people can be taken into care .

The 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, thereby giving real meaning to the flexible terms provided for by the agreements on intellectual property rights. Technology transfers must also be encouraged.

3 - Prevention and treatment must be developed everywhere, in communities, in the wor~place and so on. Let us however be mindful of ensuring equitable access to all whether they belong to the formal or informal sectors.

Even though France devotes over 100 million francs of its bilateral assistance annually to fighting AIDS, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced a further, very important effort in this direction a few days ago. Ten percent of the poorest countries' cancelled debt, that is to say, the equivalent of a billion euros over the next ten years, will be allotted to combating AIDS.
France will also make a contribution amounting to 150 million euros over three years to setting up the Global AIDS and Health Fund, which has been proposed by the Secretary?General and which in addition will be used to finance action against malaria and tuberculosis. We wish this fund to finance preventive action and access to treatment by the sick. Lastly, we ask that part of IDA resources should be earmarked for anti?AIDS work in the form of grants.

Today, everything is in place for beginning a new phase in the struggle-political mobilization, lowerpriced drugs, the funding needed for bolstering prevention and treatment policies.

But the war still has to be won.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Despite the panoply at our disposal for beating back the disease, we are incapable of treating several thousand people, of providing treatment and care to several hundred thousand pregnant women, 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 North economies into a few teaching hospitals located in African capitals .
 
The problem is that these techniques are not suitable for being applied to 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" should be convened in Dakar on 30 November and 1 December this year. The aim of the meeting will be to reach policy agreement on the methods to be used. For millions of sick people, nothing could be more hope-destroying than to know that the money is there but to see at the same time that nothing is changing.

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 diseased has been contained, these populations continue to be contaminated despite prevention policies. From a public health standpoint, it is inadmissible today not to admit this reality.
 

Thank you for your attention.