The FGFJ organized a series of events with Prof. Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, while he was in Japan to give a presentation at the MDGs Follow-up Meeting held in Tokyo on June 2 and 3, 2011. During his visit, he met with members of the FGFJ Diet Task Force, which is co-chaired by House of Representatives members Motohisa Furukawa (DPJ) and Ichiro Aisawa (LDP); members of the FGFJ Board of Directors, including former Prime Minister and FGFJ Honorary Chair Yoshiro Mori; and individual political and government leaders. Referring to the Global Fund’s recently published results report, Professor Kazatchkine cited the impact generated by the fund and its partners and described the series of reforms the fund is undertaking to improve its governance and grant management practices. He also spoke candidly about the Global Fund’s efforts to rebuild trust following recent press reports on fraud and corruption that give the false impression that a large portion of funds have been misused. He also touched on the subject of Japan’s ODA budget cuts that resulted in a withholding of this year’s allocation to the Global Fund, which would have been Japan’s highest allocation yet, following Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s announcement last year of an increased Japanese commitment to the Global Fund at the UN MDGs Summit. Professor Kazatchkine expressed his sincere hope that Japan will remain strongly committed to the Global Fund despite the difficulties confronting the nation following the March 11 disaster. To this, leaders in all of the meetings assured him that the budget cut was a temporary measure and that Japan remains strong in its commitment to the Global Fund.
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