Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited a photo exhibition on AIDS treatment, Access to Life, held in Tokyo, and later delivered an address at a commemorative symposium.

The Prime Minister said in his address, "In relation to AIDS, in 1996 when I was Minister of Health and Welfare, at the time there were many people in Japan who had contracted HIV through contaminated blood products, and I worked on that issue.
At the United Nations Summit to be held the end of September, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be a major item on the agenda. An important pillar of the MDGs is to combat the three major infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
The military conflicts of the world have not completely disappeared. On the other hand, there are as many people who are dying from disease and poverty as from military conflict. This is the type of issue for which, within the international community, countries that have money should donate money, and countries that can spare people should spare them, and countries that have technologies should share them, to create a network in which people help people -- a network in the true sense of security for humankind. I believe this is a major task that the world needs to work on."