H.E. Jean Ping- Chairperson of African Union Commission;

H.E. Dr. Tewoderos Adhanom, Minister of Health of Federal

Democratic Republic of Ethiopia;

Professor Robert Soudre- President of SAA;

Dr Yegeremu Abebe - ICASA 2011 President

Invited guests

Ladies and Gentle men,

First and foremost I would like to congratulate all of us for the successful accomplishment of ICASA 2011 which has shed light to many issues.

It is a great pleasure for me to be standing here today representing young women living with HIV as well as the Network of People living with HIV in Ethiopia. As we all are aware of, HIV has the face of African women especially young women with limited awareness and knowledge of their reproductive health rights, young women who are victims of many forms of violence and young women who are economically dependent. As I am one of those women- I urge you to fight for the rights of young women.

I thank and appreciate the ICASA coordinating committee for recognizing our greater involvement and participation in all the program planning for ICASA 2011. I am thankful to the government of Ethiopia for organizing ICASA here in Addis letting us have a chance to participate. The conference has deliberated on the diverse issues of our concern the outcomes of which we believe will be taken up by African leaders as well as funding institutions.

I believe change starts from self and I hope we all take the positive outcomes of this conference to further contribute to the fight against HIV. As we continue to struggle, we will contribute to the global goal of zero new infections, zero stigma and discrimination and zero death from AIDS. I call all African leaders, CSOs and donors to stand in solidarity with us to achieve this goal.

My best wishes to all travelling to their homes and once again I thank you very much!!