International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada: August 13 -18, 2006

[kwanfan]

At the AIDS conference will Haakon be attending all of the workshops, sessions, etc. with Mette-Marit? Obviously, the conference is in connection with Mette-Marit's role with UNAIDS but since Haakon is there, it will be interesting to see whether he attends everything with Mette-Marit.

[Larzen]

UNIFEM and UNDP (which Haakon works for) are also incharge of some of the sessions on the program. One of the sessions will be headed by Former bishop of Oslo Gunnar Stålsett, and is called - building new leaders, so I guess they will both be there for that one, as they are very close to him. Gunnar Stålsett (on the page even titled His Grace ) is Co-chair of the Leadership Programme Comittee

On this page one can see what role other UNAIDS special representatives like Mary Fisher and Naomi Watts (both considerable more known but anyway) had at such a somewhat similar meeting in New York some moths ago.

[kwanfan]

Looking through the website for the conference, I think another event we know Mette-Marit will attend during the week will be the awarding of the Red Ribbon Award on Wednesday the 16th. She is a member of the jury for the award. http://www.redribbonaward.org/php/co...hp?page=jury#1 She probably will also attend the presentations by the Red Ribbon Award finalists. http://www.aids2006.org/PAG/PSession.aspx?SessionID=988

[Mandy]

Several posts have been moved to this newly created thread where you can post news, articles, pictures and comments about Haakon's and Mette-Mette's attendence at the seminar. Information about the conference is also welcome.

Happy posting!

[Humera]

Sounds like an amazing gathering, wonderful for Toronto, and ofcourse its great to have the cp couple coming to the city.
We do get flocks of celebrities but not much royalty.

[Larzen]

Benefit concert to open XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada

TORONTO, July 24 /CNW/ - The week-long XVI International AIDS Conference
(AIDS 2006) will kick off with a major opening concert on Sunday evening, August 13, 2006 at the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. The concert event, Time to Deliver - The AIDS 2006 Concert, will feature a lineup of star performers, dignitaries and leaders, and is being co-presented by the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Canada (NMCFC)......The concert will immediately follow the official opening proceedings.
......
The opening proceedings will include welcome remarks by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada, The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario and His Worship David Miller, Mayor of Toronto; as well as remarks by Frika Chia Iskandar, a young Indonesian woman living with HIV/AIDS; and UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot. The opening will conclude with a keynote address by Bill and Melinda Gates, Co-Chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation...

Other major participants attending the conference include former Presidents Mary Robinson and Bill Clinton, HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who is a UNAIDS Special Representative, and actors Richard Gere and Olympia Dukakis.
....
The conference is organized around three components: science, community, and leadership. The programme will offer over 400 sessions, meetings and workshops featuring important scientific advances and discussion of current policy issues among political, scientific and community leaders and others on the frontlines of the epidemi

read more
http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archiv.../24/c8651.html
Thanks to Netty

Originally Posted by kwanfan

Looking through the website for the conference, I think another event we know Mette-Marit will attend during the week will be the awarding of the Red Ribbon Award on Wednesday the 16th. She is a member of the jury for the award. http://www.redribbonaward.org/php/co...hp?page=jury#1

.....The Red Ribbon Award represents a partnership initiative between UNDP, UNAIDS, Community and Leadership Program Committees of the International AIDS Conference 2006 and the governments of Canada, Norway, Austria, Finland and Ireland. Other partners include: Care International and UNESCO.
http://www.redribbonaward.org/index.php

[Larzen]

The thread for the visit to Geneva
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ghlight=geneva

Aftenposten has an article about the trip, according to that both Haakon and Mette-Marit is among the speakers, and the former bishop of Oslo Gunnar Stålsett has a major role, and then alot of bla-bla, nothing new.
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/ko...cle1419259.ece

The homepage of the conferenace will provide HQ photos from the events
http://www.aids2006.org/subpage.aspx?pageId=471

The opening session can be seen online, it starts 19.00 local time 13 august
http://www.aids2006.org/mainpage.aspx?pageId=110

world clock
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

On Aug. 13, about 24,000 of those soldiers - researchers, doctors and nurses, human rights advocates, politicians, philanthropists and even celebrities - will gather in Toronto for the six-day International AIDS Conference, the largest in the now-biennial meeting's 21-year history.....
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060805/x080506.html


Sandra Oh, left, and Olympia Dukakis cut the ribbon on the AIDS statue to launch the XVI International AIDS Conference on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2006 in Toronto. Thousands of AIDS experts, activists and politicians streamed into Toronto on Saturday for the world's largest conference devoted to combating the disease _ many of them determined to speak for the world's 2.3 million infected children who are often forgotten. (AP PHOTO/CP, Nathan Denette)

[sylla]

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/05aids.htm

This article lists Mette-Marit as a keynote speaker. If this is true, I hope it will be televised (or at least available on the net somewhere). Being a keynote speaker at an event this huge is a Big Deal. I am surprised that it does not appear that Stephanie of Monaco will be at this event since she is also an AIDS Activist. Or perhaps her activism is on a different scale than Mette-Marit.

[Oppie]

Does anyone know, when Mette-Marit and Haakon are speaking, they are both listed under bios for major speakers, and does anyone know specifically what they are talking about ?

The official media sponsers are
CBC (TV/RADIO) www.cbc.ca
Globe and Mail (Newspaper) www.globeandmail.com

[kwanfan]

Originally Posted by sylla

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/05aids.htm

This article lists Mette-Marit as a keynote speaker. If this is true, I hope it will be televised (or at least available on the net somewhere). Being a keynote speaker at an event this huge is a Big Deal. I am surprised that it does not appear that Stephanie of Monaco will be at this event since she is also an AIDS Activist. Or perhaps her activism is on a different scale than Mette-Marit.

On the website for the conference www.aids2006.org it says there will be a live webcast of the opening session on Sunday. Also, since President Clinton will be involved I think we will probably see fairly good coverage in the U.S.

[kwanfan]

Here's a link to a list of bios of speakers at the conference. http://www.aids2006.org/admin/images/upload/1052.pdf Both Haakon and Mette-Marit are listed. I wonder if the two of them have arrived in Toronto yet? You would think that they would arrive a day early to deal with jet lag.

[Oppie]

CBC Newsworld has live coverage now (10am EST)

There is a special event for grandmothers who have been taking care of AIDS orphans. So far they have mentioned that Alicia Keys and Stephan Lewis (UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa) will be there.

If you have a chance make sure to watch or listen some of what Stephen Lewis has to say. He came to my university to give a very prestigious lecture. Many students had trouble getting in and most of the seats were taken by professors and members of the community. So he showed up at the University bar and just began talking to whoever was there. It was such a passion filled addressed I have thought about it often ever since.

Edited to Add - Here is my recap of today ceremonies

The ceremony was for the Grandmother's Gathering (Run by the Stephen Lewis Foundation http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/ ) it brought together Grandmothers who lost there children to AIDS and are now raising there grandchildren some of who are HIV+ with Grandmothers from Canada that have been supporting them.

It started off with the grandmothers dancing (and they danced up a strom) CBC interviewed Alicia Keys who is the patron of a foundation called Keep A Child Alive http://www.keepachildalive.org/ She was very knowlegable and very political I was highly impressed by the way she spoke.

Stephen Lewis was also interviewed and he spoke as well. Then he danced. I love Stephen Lewis and think the world of him...but he made Alicia Keys laugh a lot.

There was the story of one grandmother, who lost her children and in laws and is raising two grandchildren (one is HIV+) and they also interviewed the Canadian Health Minister (and in respect of board rules that is all I'm saying).

It was very powerful, very moving presentation. CBC (I think it might just be Newsworld) will be showing opening ceremonies at 7pm EST tonight.

[Larzen]

Thanks for you recap Oppie
Here is Alicia Keys and Stephen Lewis

American singer Alicia Keys addresses a crowd as UN AIDS envoy Stephen Lewis looks on at an event for the International AIDS conference in Toronto, Sunday, Aug.13, 2006. HIV/AIDS scientists, activists and journalists, numbering roughly 27,000 in total, have descended upon Toronto for the once-every-two-years International AIDS Conference. (AP Photo/Stuart Nimmo, CP)

Here is the first picture of Mette-Marit in Toronto

Edit to add
The real first picture, Mette-Marit at a meeting where she gave a speech during a meeting about women and the international AIDS conference.
Foto: Kallestad-Aftenposten

[venus_samotracia]

Princess Mette-Marit is fantastic

[kwanfan]

Mette-Marit looks really nice. Hopefully the conference website will put a transcript of her speech up. I'd love to read it.

[Alexandria]

Originally Posted by Larzen

Thanks for you recap Oppie
Here is Alicia Keys and Stephen Lewis

Here is the first picture of Mette-Marit in Toronto

That comes from the biggest local paper, The Toronto Star, the site can be found at www.thestar.com.

Here are profiles of the individuals involved (also previously posted in another manner in this thread): http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968793972154.

This one doesn't mention Haakon but mentions Harry of Britain.

[Maxie]

Mette-Marit really looks lovely. That's a very beautiful jacket, it seems to be made of a very interesting fabric.

[kwanfan]

The opening session is starting. You can watch it at this link http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_...detail&hc=1791

[Larzen]

Its funny the cameraman seems to think their advisor Vibeke Hollekim (pic from nettavisen in Geneva) and Haakons aide de Campe (in uniform) are the royals, they have showed close ups of them three times, and not once of H and MM They are sitting on the front row though. The organisors and crowd are really not happy with the Prime minsters absense it seems

The governor General Michaëlle Jean did give a wonderful speech

VG has an articlecalls her World Profile in the fight against AIDS" (which is a huge overstatement in my oppinion) Its based on the front page posted above
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=126476

aftenposten has some pieces of her speech
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/ko...cle1420315.ece
scanpix via nettavisen

[sylla]

VG has an articlecalls her World Profile in the fight against AIDS" (which is a huge overstatement in my oppinion) Its based on the front page posted above
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=126476

I agree. The title of "World Leader" should only be bestowed on scientists who are trying to find a cure; doctors and nurses, who are doing hands-on work trying to save AIDS patients; and all others, who are doing actual work in the field trying to ease the suffering.

Celebrities and royalty who are merely bringing attention to the subject (as if we all don't know about AIDS by now) can be commended for their involvement but it should be kept in perspective.