Jill Evans MEP at the Earth Summit In Johannesburg

After all the Summit discussions this past week, some open, but most behind closed doors, the weekend will be taken up with intense negotiations before the government leaders meet on Monday.

Word is that a non-binding plan will be agreed on a range of issues. One of them will be the centrally important issue, especially for Africa, of fighting AIDS.

On Thursday I went with a delegation to Kwazulu Natal to meet King Goodwill Zwelithini Ka Bhekuluzu, the longest reigning monarch in Zulu history. He said that after the wars of the past, today's war against HIV/AIDS was one of the most important challenges his people faced.

He has been speaking out on AIDS for many years and has taken initiatives to educate young people about the dangers of infection, with the emphasis on faithfulness and safe sex.

"Our children are dying and we have funerals every day of the week including Saturday and Sunday", he said.

He recognised that, as well as prevention, care and support had to be provided for those who were already infected.

There are thirty-four million people in the world with HIV/AIDS. About six million South Africans are expected to die of the disease in the next ten years. It is estimated that by 2006, a quarter of their workforce will be infected. That is why King Zwelithini linked the fight against AIDS with the need for economic development, particularly in the rural areas.

Effective action on HIV/AIDS has to be central to the decisions of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This means a financial as well as a political commitment by world governments in Johannesburg next week.

As a representative from Wales, my week in South Africa has shown me very graphically how the issues of health, water, sanitation, development aid, climate change, biodiversity, human rights and cultural identity are intrinsically linked. That, after all, is what sustainable development means: creating a society and a world within which we have communities which are sustainable economically, environmentally and culturally.

All of these major issues are important to us in Wales, as a small nation working towards sustainability but very much aware of our duty to the rest of the world.

I have met people from all parts of the globe who believe that a better world is possible. No one would pretend that this is an easy task, or that it could be achieved overnight. There has been a lot of criticism of the cost of this Summit. But if it produces an action plan for achieving a sustainable world, with the political will of governments, then it will be worth every penny. The cost of failure is unimaginable.

Diwedd/Ends.