Conference report

Conference statement

On June 8, 2006, the Russian State Duma Interfactional Deputies’ Working Group on HIV/AIDS, UK All-Party Parlia-mentary Group on HIV/AIDS and Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS (TPAA), in conjunction with the G8 Summit of 2006, held the international parliamentary conference “HIV/AIDS in Eurasia and the Role of the G8” at State Duma in Moscow. The conference, which has been endorsed by the Presidential Executive Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, was organized in conjunction with Russia’s G8 presi-dency aiming to:

Focus attention of G8 leaders and the international community on the global threat posed by the Eurasian HIV epidemics and opportunities to stem them;
• Build a common understanding of the status and potential progression of the Eurasian AIDS epidemics, as well as the public health, social, economic and security threats they pose to these countries, their region and the world;
• Identify opportunities for improving national responses to the epidemics and identify initiatives and mechanisms through which the G8, its member countries and international organizations can engage.

Consistent with G8 actions over the past decade, Russia has made infectious diseases one of three priority areas for the St. Petersburg G8 Summit, along with energy and education. Russia’s assumption of the G8 presidency in 2006 offered the possibility of consolidating existing G8 commitments while at the same time enlarging the group’s HIV/AIDS focus to include Eurasia.

Conference participants involved up to 90 senior parliamentarians and officials from the G8, Brazil, China, India and CIS, as well as representatives from international organizations contributing to the development of national, regional and in-ternational HIV/AIDS policy. Participants issued a statement outlining concrete and realistic actions that can be carried out within the G8 framework and by national governments and international agencies.

The conference was chaired by State Duma Vice-Chair A.Chilingarov, Chair of the Interfactional Deputies’ Working Group on HIV/AIDS. Participants and the list of speakers included Deputy Minister for Health Care and Social Devel-opment V.Starodubov, RF Head Physician G.Onischenko, State Duma deputies M.Grishankov, V.Zubov, T.Yakovleva and N.Gerasimenko, US Ambassador to the Russian Federation William J. Burns, as well as parliamen-tarians and experts from China, CIS, Germany, France, India, Iran, Portugal, United Kingdom and other countries.

Participants issued a statement that outlines concrete and realistic actions that can be carried out within the G8 frame-work and by national governments and international agencies. Participants called on the leaders of the G8 to ensure the priority status and urgency of decisions concerning the spread of HIV/AIDS in Eurasia and deepen the strategic coop-eration in the area of HIV/AIDS in the Eurasian region.