Davos — Today, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006 in Davos, Switzerland, Bono and Bobby Shriver announced Product RED, an economic initiative designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It is the first time that the world's leading companies have made a commitment to channel a portion of their profits from sales of specially-designed products to the Global Fund to support AIDS programmes for women and children in Africa.

RED presents a new and profitable way of doing business by harnessing the partners' brand-building expertise while generating a new income stream for the Global Fund. International brands including American Express (founding partner), Gap and Giorgio Armani are the launch partners. They have designed products that will take on the RED mark and will be available from 1 March 2006.

Bobby Shriver, Chief Executive Officer of Product RED, said, "This is a long-term initiative designed for sustainability. RED partners expect that they will broaden their own customer base and increase loyalty in a manner that delivers a sustainable revenue stream to both the company and the Global Fund."

Shriver continued, "It's incredible to have the marketing brilliance of these companies behind the AIDS emergency."

Currently, the private sector contributes less than 1% of the Global Fund's resource needs. RED believes this initiative will start a new income stream, providing an outlet for those consumers who want to "do their bit" on a daily basis but have not yet found a way to do so.

"People see a world out of whack. They see the greatest health crisis in 600 years and they want to do the right thing, but they're not sure what that is. RED is about doing what you enjoy and doing good at the same time," explained Bono.

How Funding Works

All funds generated by sales of RED products will support programmes financed by the Global Fund which positively impact the lives of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. These include programmes in countries such as Rwanda, which has a proven track record and ambitious targets. For example, in the past two years, Rwanda has increased the number of people receiving treatments for HIV/AIDS tenfold.

Each programme highlighted by RED will be selected based on the following Global Fund criteria:

Focus:

o The grant's activities are related to HIV/AIDS treatment, care and prevention, and focus on women and children in Africa.

Performance:

- The programme is performing well as evidenced by progress reports and a mid-programme performance review.

Reporting:

- The programme's principal recipient is providing progress reports and making disbursement requests to the Global Fund on time.

- The Global Fund Secretariat has been approving disbursement requests, based on Local Fund Agents' (professional consultants) recommendations to the Secretariat.

Dr Richard Feachem, Executive Director, The Global Fund, said, "Product RED is a breakthrough in corporate and consumer engagement for the greatest global crisis of our time - the HIV/AIDS pandemic. RED can make a substantial contribution to financing the massive scale-up of prevention, testing, treatment and care that is desperately needed in Africa."

RED Products

American Express has introduced a credit card that offers free annual membership and a minimum of 1% on all eligible spend is paid directly to The Global Fund on the cardmember's behalf. Spending above £ 5,000 per year will generate an increase of 1.25% on all spending above that amount. An extra 5 pounds will be given to The Global Fund if cardmembers make their first purchase on the card within the first month. There will also be a number of added benefits for (American Express) RED cardmembers including unique 'experiences', hand picked discounts and access to entertainment and retail events. The card will be available from March 2006.

Gap is developing a special collection of items to be sold initially in the United Kingdom and US. The first piece of the collection is a t-shirt, the most iconic of Gap's items. The 100% African-made vintage-style t-shirt will come in red, as well as a range of colours for both men and women, and will be available in United Kingdom stores in spring 2006.

An enhanced collection will be launched in autumn 2006.

Giorgio Armani's first RED product will be a pair of Emporio Armani sunglasses (Style EA 9285/s). The striking metal wrap-around sunglasses are designed with a single lens available in green, rose, blue, smoke grey, grey and brown, all embossed with the EA RED logo. The forked arms, available in shades of ruthenium, gunmetal and light gold, are superimposed on the lens with a futuristic feel. The EA RED sunglasses will be available from April in all Emporio Armani stores and in select specialty eyewear stores and department stores worldwide.

Giorgio Armani will present a complete Emporio Armani RED capsule collection for women and men, including clothing, accessories, fragrances, watches, eyewear and jewellery later in 2006.