Moscow, July 1, 2004 - "Sign AIDS Awareness Expedition"

Moscow, July 1, 2004 - "Sign AIDS Awareness Expedition", an international AIDS awareness partnership between Team Joachim Franz, UNAIDS and Volkswagen, took off on 25 June and arrived in Moscow on 1 July where the team gave a press conference. Head of the Moscow AIDS Centre Alexei Mazus, Deputy Head of the Public Health Department of the Moscow Mayor’s Office Ivan Leshkevich, Head of the PLWHA Movement ‘Shagi’ Igor Pchelin, UNAIDS Representative in Russia Bertil Lindblad and representatives of Volkswagen and GTZ took part in the event. The mountaineering team’s goal is to carry a 2.5-meter high red ribbon to the top of the summit of Pik Pobedy (7438 m) — the highest peak in the Tian Shan mountain range on the Kyrgyz-Chinese border. The ribbon was "carried" by the team over 7000 kilometres from Berlin through Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan raising awareness about AIDS along the way. In each city representatives of the government, civil society and celebrities signed the red ribbon to confirm their commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The expedition had covered nearly 8,000 kilometres when the Team Joachim Franz arrived in Bishkek on 7 July. "Initiatives such as this one are essential to the AIDS response, especially in countries where the epidemic is still emerging and awareness is not as high as it could be," said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.