REPORTER: Tommy Thompson, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, says he came to the International AIDS Conference to stress the Bush administration’s commitment to the global struggle against HIV.

TOMMY THOMPSON: This conference is an extremely, I wanna underscore that, extremely important event for our nation, but also for the world as a whole. HIV/AIDS is one of the most significant problems of our times, and for that matter it is probably one of the most significant problems facing this world at any time in our past. And this conference provides an unmatched opportunity to meet, to share what we’ve learned, and to be able to redouble our commitment to fighting this disease. The United States government alone, now –- the people don’t understand this, but the United States government alone now accounts for more than 40% of the donor assistance spent on HIV/AIDS throughout the world.

The administration is absolutely passionate, absolutely devoted to working to find a cure and effective vaccine. And the gentleman to my immediate left probably will have more to do with finding that cure, that vaccine, than any other person in the world, Tony Volche(MS?). But the government, the United States government, has allocated unprecedented resources to the National Institutes of Health, the unquestioned global leader in biomedical research. The United States will continue to allocate more money to fight HIV, both at home and abroad.

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that knows no borders. Therefore, the United States government is committed to integrating domestic and global efforts as much as possible. In order to reduce the incidence of HIV domestically, which is also our fight, we want to be able to reduce the incidence of HIV domestically by 50% by 2010. That is our goal in the department. We want to be able to reach people as soon as possible once they are infected. We want to ensure money goes to those individuals and populations who need it most in order to reduce racial and other disparities.

This International AIDS conference provides us an excellent opportunity to continue to build and strengthen partnerships with nations around the world, but also with the scientific community and the private sector to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. And, in conclusion I would like to point out once again, we’re here because we want to be here. We’re here because we believe that this is a fight the United States of America has got to be very much involved in. But it’s also a fight that needs everybody. It needs other governments, it needs the private sector, it needs NGO’s, and it needs people to step up. Instead of criticizing we have to look forward to working together in partnerships to better serve a larger population, people that need it right now.

My Department has just entered into an agreement with China this past week, which we gave them $14.8 million to assist them in their fight in China. And so we are fighting on humanitarian grounds, we’re fighting it because it’s the right thing to do, but we also realize fully, as you’ve indicated, that unless we do something, there are some countries that are going to be very unstable in the future because of the decimation that this terrible disease is going to raise in those countries. And you know as well as I do, that international terrorists will go wherever they possibly can, in order to flourish their hatred and their convictions and assaults on humanity.