Following is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s statement, issued following a meeting with top pharmaceutical executives on HIV/AIDS, in New York, 24 July:....In the five years since I first met with pharmaceutical company executives, we have seen significant advances. Today, I pay tribute to the leadership and commitment of all the companies that contributed to this progress, including many of those represented at today’s meeting. Yet, the AIDS epidemic is still outpacing our efforts, and we need to work together in a broad partnership to step up the response. [participants included representatives of Aspen Pharmacare, Aurobindo Pharma, Becton Dickinson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Hetero Drugs, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Ranbaxy Laboratories]