Union Ministers, officials from the government, policy makers, representatives of civil society groups, multilateral agencies and scientific community will hold a scientific meeting on vaccine research on HIV/AIDS here on August 13.

The scientific session is being hosted by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology in partnership with Department of AIDS Control & Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Forum of Parliamentarians on HIV/AIDS, Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute (THSTI), Gurgaon, Research Centre for Biotechnology, Gurgaon and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

“This Symposium, a first of its kind focused on scientific meeting in India devoted exclusively to vaccine research on HIV/AIDS, shall accentuate the continuous efforts taken by India in vaccine research on HIV/AIDS and associated technologies, which has facilitated its emergence as a leader in this field,” a release said here.

The inaugural function will be attended by the senior political leaders in India, civil Society relevant to HIV, policy makers from the government, representatives of multilateral agencies and the scientific fraternity, the release said.

Margaret Mc Glynn, president and CEO of IAVI, Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development and Information Technology, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Science & Technology, Oscar Fernandes, chairman of Parliamentary Forum for HIV AIDS, and MK Bhan, secretary for Department of Biotechnology will be among those to attend the meet. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam will be the chief guest of the inaugural session.