Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the delegation of Ukraine allow me to congratulate the participants of the session on the occasion of the opening of the General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

I would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan for his personal contribution to the preparation of this extremely important Forum. We highly appreciate the efforts of its organizers, Member States and other stakeholders of the negotiation process, in preparing the draft Declaration to be adopted by this Special session.

Mr. President,

Fully recognizing the severity of the situation with the HIV/AIDS epidemic throughout the world, Ukraine has become one of the initiators of convening this Special Session. Unfortunately, my country is not an exception case in the negative process that has affected the whole mankind. At present, there are more than 38 thousand officially registered HIV-infected people in Ukraine. These include 2 thousand people living with AIDS, and out of them more than thousand have already died.

The President and the Government of Ukraine defined the fight against HIV/AIDS among the most important priorities of our national policy. The Decree signed by the President of Ukraine in 2000, which provides for the implementation of emergency measures aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Ukraine, testifies to the commitment of the Head of our State to addressing this global challenge.

One of the first laws adopted in Ukraine after independence was the Law on the prevention of the AIDS disease and social protection of the population. Another important step provided for in the Ukrainian legislature in the context of its harmonization with the international norms of human and patient rights was to abandon the policy of obligatory HIV testing for the risk groups.

The national strategy to address the epidemic is based on the establishing a vertical of national institutions covering the whole sociohumanitarian sphere, as well as developing an effective Cooperation with the international community and close collaboration with nongovernmental organizations.

The national policy in this sphere is implemented by the special Governmental Commission on the HIV/AIDS prevention, which coordinates all the aspects of the response against HIV/AIDS.

During the years of independence, three national programs on HIV/AIDS prevention were implemented, and earlier this year the fourth program, which defines the new strategy to address the epidemic, was approved. A network of health care institutions for HIV/AIDS patients has been established in Ukraine, effective protective measures are being implemented to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. A number of other preventive programs for the risk population have also been launched. Ukraine can share its experience in the application of these preventive measures with our partners in Eastern Europe and Asia in their response to HIV/AIDS.

The elaborated national test system as well as its large-scale manufacture in Ukraine, while fully addressing our country's needs, could also meet the demands of the neighboring States.

Given the global dimension of the epidemic, there is a need for a qualitatively new approach towards mobilizing the efforts at the regional level. We regard the initiative to set up an Eastern European Training and Methodological Center on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine -- which could be operating within the framework of the GUUAM Group (Georgia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) with the participation of other interested countries -- as one of the efficient ways of sub-regional cooperation.

We call upon the international community to intensify its efforts to mobilize the scientific and technical resources for the research into new medicines and vaccines, for ensuring access to medicines through technology transfers, which would facilitate national production of antiretrovirals.

Mr. President,

The HIV/AIDS epidemic struck Ukraine immediately after the Chornobyl catastrophe, that affected more than 3 million citizens, including 550 thousand children, and resulted in a weakened immunity of the entire population. Elimination of the aftermath of the accident and the closure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant require significant resources. We therefore call upon the international community to assist Ukraine in the implementation of the large-scale activities aimed at addressing HIV/AIDS epidemic, which, by its destroying power, could exceed the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster.

Mr. President,

By supporting the Declaration of the Special UN GA session, Ukraine undertakes the commitment to take concrete steps aimed at fulfilling the tasks and achieving the goals set out by the Session. The evidence of our political will is the recent decision of the President of Ukraine to announce the year 2002 as the Year of Combating AIDS in Ukraine.

We cordially wish all of us and every country and nation success in the response to HIV/AIDS. We wish success to this Special Session. We are convinced that only with the united efforts of the world community we will win the fight against "the plague of the XXI century".

I thank you.