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 You are in: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice > Former Secretaries of State > Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell > Speeches and Remarks > 2003 > June

Remarks at the Global Business Coalition On HIV/AIDS Annual Dinner

Secretary Colin L. Powell
The Kennedy Center
Washington, DC
June 12, 2003

Thank you so much, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you so very much, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Dick, I thank you for that very kind and generous introduction and I thank you for your service to the nation and your service to mankind in so many capacities over the years. I'm so pleased that you have undertaken the leadership of this very important coalition -- perhaps the most important coalition we have operating on the face of the earth today.

Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ministers present, Excellencies, Reverend Graham, Glenn, Members of Congress who are present, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a great pleasure for me to be here this evening and let me congratulate those who have received awards, and let me congratulate all of the companies who are here present who have made such a commitment to this very important crusade that we all are embarked upon.

Juergen, I thank you for your leadership and Frank and Jim Johnson, and so many others -- thank you.

Part of my day today after returning from Argentina and Chile last night was occupied with the Middle East. Another part of my day I dealt with issues in Iraq. And then Zimbabwe came up for a bit of attention and some other issues intruded on the day. But a good part of my day was also spent on this issue.

As I looked into how I would go about, as Secretary of State, putting in place the organization that is going to be responsible for disbursing this amount of money that I trust the members of Congress present here this evening (laughter) who have already authorized this program now will get out of here and go back up on the Hill and appropriate the money. 

(Applause)

The Secretary of State has been given the responsibility to create an office within the Department of State that will manage this account and I spent quite a bit of time on it today, interviewed some candidates who might be playing a leadership role in that office, and people might say, "Well, why the Secretary of State? Especially this guy, he's a general. What does he know in particular about healthcare issues? And he is not a distinguished member of the medical profession, so why the Secretary of State? Perhaps it should be Tommy Thompson who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and I can assure you that Tommy and I work like this together on all of our programs with respect to HIV/AIDS, but why State?"

Well, we have USAID, which disburses money and we have other programs that are involved in this. But one reason is that because it is not just a healthcare issue, as you have heard. It is a foreign policy issue and it is as important to me and my colleagues in the Department as any other foreign policy crisis that we work on.

Weapons of mass destruction, you heard Richard make a reference to that a few moments ago and Dick certainly knows the statistics as well as I do. You could take all of the lives lost through weapons of mass destruction over the past century -- and I had my staff do it -- you roll up all of those numbers and go through World War I, got through Hiroshima, go through Nagasaki, go through all of them. Put all of those numbers together, multiply it by 10 and you don't reach the number of people who will die from HIV/AIDS in the next 12 months.

It is a foreign policy issue not just because of the statistic dealing with the loss of life; it's the loss of hope. It's the destruction of families, destruction of whole families, where you have generations wiped out; and the generation that's most critical is the middle generation, if I can call it that, the sexually active generation, the generation that is economically active, the generation that is creating wealth for that country. In the absence of that generation, wealth is lost to that country, hope is lost, families are broken, orphans are created.

It is every bit as much a crisis as Iraq or any other crisis that you might choose to point out. President Bush understood this clearly. I was in the Oval Office a few days before the State of the Union address and we were wondering how much we could actually put into this program. And a lot of numbers have been floating around and I must admit, I was kind of on the low end of the range knowing the demands and the pressures on our federal budget. And sitting in the Oval Office President Bush said, "It's going to be $15 billion dollars." I said, "You want to say that again, Boss?"

(Laughter.)

He said, "$15 billion dollars." And this is on top of a number of additional programs of a bilateral nature. This is on top of everything that Tommy Thompson has and the National Institutes of Health or CDC and the other great institutions of America that are working on this program. When the President knew that this was that important, it had to take that kind of commitment on his part, and not just a financial commitment but his personal commitment that this would be uppermost in his foreign policy agenda as well as his personal agenda to deal with this crisis.

Because it is a crisis, as everybody has touched on. The spread of political and economic liberties and breakthroughs and technologies that we've seen over the last 20 or 30 years permit us finally to envision a day in this century when most of humanity will be freed from tyranny and poverty.

The Cold War is over. We have crises on our hands. We will deal with them. This is a century of great potential promise. Yet these promising trends which the United States and other democracies have done so much to speed up, so much to support -- all of these positive trends can be reversed if AIDS is left to rage across the globe.

As the President has said, the advance of freedom and hope is challenged by the spread of AIDS. And all, all who join in the worldwide fight against AIDS, all of you -- everyone in the room here this evening -- millions of others around the world who are joined in this crusade are serving on the front lines of freedom and hope. The American people can be proud that President Bush has made the global effort to eradicate AIDS one of his highest foreign policy priorities. And he has matched the urgency of his words with the boldness of his actions. Under his leadership the United States made the first contribution by any government to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. And in his State of the Union he unveiled this very breathtaking initiative that we are close to realizing with funding from the Congress and with the creation of an office to administer it.

We signed the authorization bill just a couple of days ago and I had the honor of hosting the President at the State Department signing ceremony with members of Congress. And let me pause here and congratulate all the members of Congress here present who played such an important role in bringing that legislation into effect.

(Applause.)

This five-year $15 billion plan will prevent an estimated seven million new infections, not least of all through HIV transmission from mothers to their children. The emergency plan will provide anti-retroviral therapy to 2 million HIV infected people and it will care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and children who have been orphaned by AIDS.

The President's plan will also maintain current U.S. Government HIV/AIDS programs in more than 50 countries and it will continue America's role as the world's largest contributor to the Global Fund.

And just last week in Evian, France at the G-8 Summit, President Bush challenged the leaders who were assembled there, especially the leaders of the great industrial nations of the world to answer his emergency plan with bold initiatives of their own.

The United Kingdom, France and the European Union are meeting that challenge, increasing their contributions to the Global Fund. Yet, as we know and the reason for us to be here tonight, everyone knows, governments alone cannot begin to tackle the AIDS problem effectively. That is why partnership, the theme of this year's dinner is so timely, so important, so vital. Because if the international community is to succeed in the fight against AIDS and other devastating diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, partnership between governments, businesses, faith-based institutions and non-governmental institutions of all kind is absolutely essential.

And thanks in great measure to the work of the Global Business Coalition, political leaders and corporate executives, religious organizations; civic groups are all forging new public-private partnerships to combat the AIDS pandemic.

Working in partnership, we will save millions of lives and spare millions more great suffering, suffering of the kind that we saw on the moving video at the beginning of our program. The HIV virus, like terrorism, kills indiscriminately and without mercy. As cruel as any tyrant, the virus can crush the human spirit. It is an insidious and relentless foe -- more destructive than any army, any conflict, any weapon of mass destruction. It shatters families, tears the fabric of societies and undermines government -- undermines the very basis of democracy. It can destroy countries and as we have seen, it can destabilize entire regions and it is not restricted just to Africa or the Caribbean. We see it spreading all over the world, as was noted earlier in India, in Russia and in other places thought to be immune from this problem. It is obvious that these nations will have to take their heads out of the sand and deal with these problems straight up.

In the three hours or so that we have spent here tonight together, 1000 people around the world will have died of AIDS and over 1700 people will have become infected -- most of them between the ages of 15 and 24 -- nearly half of them women. This comes out to almost 8,500 deaths and 14,000 newly infected people every single day. Like so many of you, I have looked into the eyes of young mothers terminally ill with AIDS, mothers who fear their children's uncertain future more than they fear their own certain death.

The mothers make memory books and Alma and I saw some of these memory books when we visited in Africa. They make memory books so that their children will remember them -- so that their children will have something to touch and hold and remind them that once upon a time they were loved.

12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. There could be 40 million orphans by the end of this decade unless we act; unless we spur others to action, these precious children are likely to perish in the same cycle of destitution, despair, disease and death that took the lives of their parents.

So many teachers are dying, leaving new generations of youngsters illiterate, unskilled and unprepared to support themselves or to have the capacity to contribute to their societies, to their countries, to their communities.

You assembled here this evening in the international corporate world live every day with the human and economic costs of HIV. You have to deal with a shortage of skilled labor overseas. You face the loss of productivity from absenteeism when your employees become ill or take time off to care for family members who are ill.

You have a constant need to train new workers to replace those who succumb to the disease. Your markets, literally, are dying off before your eyes. AIDS has dealt devastating blows to business and investment in so many developing countries. And business and investment are crucial to lifting poor nations onto the path of development and stability.

AIDS is not only sapping their today, it is stealing their tomorrow. And it is threatening democracy, prosperity and security all around the world. None of us can afford to look the other way and pretend that the AIDS crisis is somebody else's concern or that it isn't a crisis at all. It affects us all. All of us are vulnerable. And I commend the member companies, all 114 members of the Global Business Coalition for confronting the AIDS crisis directly.

You are putting innovative testing and treatment programs to work in so many of your companies. You are supporting community initiatives. You serve at the forefront of national and international advocacy campaigns.

And perhaps more importantly of all, most importantly of all, you are helping to spread the life-saving message that silence and stigma kill -- that the virus is the enemy, not the men, women and children who contract it.

Like all great evils, AIDS feeds on ignorance and fear. Consigning the disease to silence means condemning more and more people to death. And when people lack information about how infections can be prevented and when those infected are driven into the shadows, the virus thrives and hope withers and, eventually, dies.

By speaking out, by setting good examples, you help decision makers and publics understand that people living with AIDS should not be treated with cruelty and discrimination. Instead, they should be treated with dignity and with compassion.

You, the members of the Global Business Coalition are among the most powerful, knowledgeable and committed leaders in the worldwide fight against AIDS. And we in government need your help to build partnerships against AIDS in every country on every continent.

I have asked all American ambassadors around the world to put AIDS high up on their agendas and on their priority lists. You will find as you do business overseas that our ambassadors are willing partners with your local companies and they would greatly appreciate your ideas and your insights as to how you can cooperate.

President Bush and the Congress deliberately made partnership of the corporate world a key element of the emergency plan for AIDS relief. Partnerships combine resources and know-how to reach goals no one partner acting alone can achieve. Joint action by governments and business is also critical to fulfilling the great promise of the Global Fund.

We want to see local businesses, Chambers of Commerce, and countries affiliated to the Global Business Coalition contributing to the preparation of Global Fund applications for funding. We also want to see the corporate world involved in the implementation of the grants of the Global Fund.

Much attention has been given to the high cost of anti-retroviral drugs, but we know that the price of patented medicines now sometimes undercuts the price of generics. We know, too, that despite generous discounts and donation schemes, many people in need are not taking advantage of these offers. Governments and business must partner with community, faith-based and other non-governmental organizations to inform people about the medicines that are available to them.

We must also partner to make sure that there are healthcare workers, clinics and hospitals to dispense the drugs and to care for those who are stricken. We must help strengthen that infrastructure so that citizens have access to care and treatment.

As so many others before me have said tonight, it is possible to deal with this disease. As the President said, "It is not an insurmountable problem." We can break the vicious cycle of disease by widening the circle of those who receive education, treatment, care and support.

As President Bush has said, "We have the opportunity to bring hope to millions. Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many." We, the greatly blessed have the obligation to work together so that all of God's children live in dignity and safety and health -- and in hope.

May all of us leave here tonight with renewed resolve to increase and deepen the public-private collaborations that are so crucial to eradicating AIDS. By working in partnership across the globe, we can help to replace ignorance with information, stigma with support, and despair with dreams for a brighter future.

Together, my friends, we can ensure that millions of children have their mothers -- not just scrapbooks to remember them by. Let that be our sacred pledge. Let that be our commitment. Let us resolve here tonight to work together to stop and defeat this tragic disease. We can do it. We can do it with partnerships such as this. We can do it if we remain committed. And from what I've heard and seen here this evening, I know that we will remain committed to this task.

And so thank you. And may God bless you for your life-saving work. Thank you.



Released on June 12, 2003

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