Japanese government officials are scratching their heads over a turn of events that has taken place since last summer's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, where Tokyo tried to make the fight against AIDS a major topic.
That turn of events? Now as the major industrialized nations prepare for this year's summit, in Genoa, Italy, the spread of AIDS seems to have become a crucial issue.
U.S. President George W. Bush has given the best evidence of that so far, pledging $200 million to a U.N.-proposed trust fund for fighting AIDS during a White House meeting earlier this month with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.