Call for effective strategy to combat AIDS
Bangladesh has stressed the need for real solidarity backed by effective strategy to combat AIDS worldwide, reports BSS from New York.
"To combat AIDS, we need true solidarity and effective strategy, not mere rhetoric," Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations said on Monday while delivering the country's maiden statement as an elected member of the Security Council.
Bangladesh's two-year stint as member of the UN Security Council began on January 1, 2000.
The high-profile "First meeting of the Millennium" was presided over by the US Vice President Al Gore. The United States is the president of the council for the month of January. This is for the first time that a US vice president addressed the 15-member Security Council meeting, UN sources said.
The meeting was also addressed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Executive Director UNAIDS Peter Piot, Administrator of USAID Mark Mallock Brown and President of World Bank James Wolfensohn.
As a newly elected member of the Security Council, Bangladesh got the opportunity to express its concern over AIDS at the opening meeting of the current session of the Council.
Ambassador Chowdhury was speaking on the subject "The situation in Africa: Impact of AIDS on peace and security in Africa." To highlight the African issues in the Security Council, the US Permanent Representative has termed January as the "Month of Africa."
Welcoming the US vice-president in the meeting, Ambassador Chowdhury said that his presence was indicative of the strong commitment of the US to the United Nations and to the issues of Africa.
It was also the first time that the Security Council took up a health related issue in the context of peace and security in view of the multi-dimensional impact of AIDS pandemic.
"Bangladesh welcomes the initiative to discuss AIDS in the Security Council," Ambassador Chowdhury remarked and added that "It is a recognition of the broader dimensions.
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