International Olympic Committee to donate $100,000 to UN for AIDS fight

Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced today at United Nations Headquarters that the IOC would donate $100,000 to the UN for the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Samaranch, who is in New York to attend a meeting of the International Olympic Truce Foundation's Board of Directors, made his announcement on the heels of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recent decision to donate the $100,000 cash award for the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, which he is to receive on 4 July, as the first contribution to his proposed global fund to fight AIDS.

As part of his continued efforts to combat the disease, Mr. Annan will travel to Washington tomorrow afternoon to discuss the fight against HIV/AIDS with senior United States officials, including the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson.

Addressing the Olympic Truce Foundation's Board of Directors meeting this morning, the Secretary-General said the Olympic Truce -- an ancient Greek tradition that calls for a cessation of conflict during the period of the Olympics -- could offer a "neutral point of consensus, a window of time to open dialogue and a pause to provide relief to the suffering of the population."

The International Olympic Truce Foundation, which is based in Athens, Greece, was founded by the IOC to further the interests of athletes and sport in general and to contribute to the search for peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the various conflicts around the world.

This morning, a statue was presented to the Foundation, which in turn will be lending it to the UN to be displayed whenever the Olympic Truce is in effect.