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The presentation ceremony conducted by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan took place at Genoa’s Palace of the Doges on the eve of the official opening of the G8 summit. The ceremony was also attended by the heads of state and government of eight industrialised countries, European Commission President Romano Prodi, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the leaders of Algeria, Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria, Salvador, South Africa and the heads of major international institutions: the World Health Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was established on the initiative of the G8 members and the UN. The main aim of the Fund is to help the poorest countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The so-called donors’ conference scheduled for the autumn of 2001 will determine the size of financial contributions to the fight against dangerous diseases. The US and Japan have already announced that they would contribute up to $200 million, and France and Italy about $150 million. Russia’s contribution is likely to be about $20 million. The decision to the effect was made by President Vladimir Putin shortly before he flew to Genoa.