[Colleen Mcedwards, World News:] United States and European Union officials say they have made little progress in resolving trade disputes. U.S. president Bill Clinton met with EU leaders at a summit in Portugal. But as CNN's Major Garrett reports, the leaders did find common ground on another global issue.
[Major Garrett, Cnn White House Correspondent:] The U.S. and 15 nations of the European Union agreed on a common plan to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, a rare burst of consensus at a conference defined by trade and arms control disputes.
[Bill Clinton, U.s. President:] We have made a joint commitment to do more to try to help developing nations deal with
[Aids. Garrett:] The plan calls for increased financial aid, new educational programs and lower prices for AIDS drugs. The AIDS virus is cutting a deadly swathe throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where 23 million are infected. That's 70 percent of the world's AIDS cases. In South Africa, 1 in 10 have the virus. Experts predict 26 million AIDS cases in sub-Saharan Africa by 2003.
[Clinton:] Some countries are hiring two employees for every job on the assumption that one of them will die of
[Aids. Garrett:] The U.S. government recently declared AIDS a national security threat.
[Samuel Berger, U.s. National Security Adviser:] This is not only an epidemic of major proportions, this runs the risk of seeing country's implode, seeing instability and war.
[Garrett:] European nations have for years demanded more action from the Clinton administration to combat the worldwide spread of AIDS. But experts say the international response has been disappointing.
[Debrework Zewdie, Hiv/aids Coordinator, World Bank:] Nobody has put up a good enough response to the epidemic.
[Garrett:] Frustrated U.S. AIDS activists disrupted Vice President Gore's campaign rallies until the president asked Congress for more money and took steps to lower the cost of AIDS drugs. [on camera]: No one here expects the new U.S. and European efforts to stop or even immediately slow the spread of AIDS in Africa. But experts are encouraged that the issue now enjoys a newfound promise and that, they say, is the first step to reversing the virus's deadly and destabilizing march across Africa. Major Garrett, CNN, Lisbon, Portugal.