 The next person when I met him was a young boy trying to pretend to be a politician. His name is Doctor, because he's a physician, Ricardo Batista-Leite. He's a member of the Portuguese National Parliament from the Health and Foreign Affairs Committees and he was a former Deputy Mayor of Cascas. Our young politician on those times says on his curricula under the auspicious of Unites, he was the founder and president of Unites, the global parliamentarians network to end HIV AIDS via hepatitis and other infectious disease. So we can see now that our parliamentary is an ambitious man. And he asked me, please Jose, can you code this one? And I need to do it. He was one of the six people to have been acknowledged globally by the economists as an HIV change maker in recognition of his leadership in the field of hepatitis C. And this is quite true, actually. We need to give you that. And finally, I will not stay here saying, praising you more, dear Ricardo Batista-Leite. He's a head of public health at the Catolica University of Portugal, coordinator of sustainable health care at NOVA, Information Management School and Guest Lecture at NOVA Medical School. Prior to being elected MP, seven years as a participant physician, including a five-year infectious disease residency and internship at Telage O'Iro, Copenhagen. So dear friends, Ricardo Batista, please take the call. Good afternoon. And having been elected from by Lisbon District, welcome to the second most beautiful city in Portugal. Thank you, Jose. I didn't ask him to say all those kind of words, but I thank you very deeply. And I'd like to start by, of course, thanking the UN High Commission, and Ms. Ellen Schley, for your kind words here today. To the President Sampair, to your inspirational leadership, to our Secretary of State, Professor Quintanilla, dear friend and colleague. And I would like also to greet with a warm heart Rui, who is the leader of the active substance users here in Portugal as a physician and as a parliamentarian. It's not easy. It's not easy to do what you do. And your words are always very right to the point, and we take them very, very seriously. So as Jose Cados mentioned, the reason why I'm on this stage is because I'm the founding president of UNITE, a global network of parliamentarians that are committed to ending infectious diseases as a global health threat. A very easy goal to achieve, as you can imagine. But together, we can get there. But it's only possible, really, with the support of so many partners around the world. And yesterday, we came together, and I have to thank also with a warm heart, Naomi, Arm Reduction International, and Jose Cados from APDEZ. Without them, we wouldn't have been able to organize our joint action policy day. There was a side event to this conference in which we were able to discuss the importance of addressing drug policies from an evidence-based, data-driven perspective towards ending HIV, hepatitis C, and TB among people who use drugs. And I think it was a very, very impactful session. And very quickly, I'm going to run you through the main conclusions of this meeting, thanking, of course, our supporting partners. The first main message is that punishment does not work. Decriminalization works to make it very clear. Drug use is a health issue and not a criminal issue. And despite decriminalization not being a magic bullet, but it is one important component of the puzzle. And we have seen that in many, many ways. And looking at the Portuguese example that was beautifully described here by Professor Elshand Quintanilla, 20 years ago, the parliament was not united around this piece of legislation. There was a lot of divisions, even among my party, the social Democrats. But today, if this piece of legislation would be put forward, we would have a unanimous vote in favor. 20 years later, the proof of evidence, what people feel that it has transformed society, has changed perception, it has changed mindset, it has changed culture. It has changed the way we look and deal with drug policy. And I think that is a very powerful message. The second main conclusion is that we need to recognize opportunities for new alliances. And there was an important message coming out of the meeting that there is a need to invite law enforcement to have a seat at the table and that there is a new generation of prosecutors with a strong voice against criminalization and law enforcement and we need to listen to each other. We also need to engage media and share stories of people who use drugs and unsuccessful outcomes as Naomi showed us with the passing of so many dear friends over the years and the importance of sharing these stories to help move the agenda forward. And of course an increased need for peer networks and support among drug users to help navigate among formal and informal social services. The third key message is that political will, visionary and courageous leadership to confront stigma and discrimination are needed. If harm reduction works in your neighboring country, it will work in yours. And this is extremely important. You don't need more evidence, we have 30 years of evidence. It is cost-effective, it is evidence-based, it does work and it does save lives. And it is very clear that funding, the current funding that exists for these services are not sustainable and there are opportunities through decriminalization to move money, to move funding from criminal justice budget to the healthcare budget. And we see in the case of Hepatitis C, we've seen and we saw examples yesterday that in many countries, low-middle-income countries, the pricing of DAAs has gone down so dramatically that the pricing issue is not an excuse anymore to not fight for elimination across the globe. And that is something we need to do, especially among people who inject drugs. We will not achieve elimination if we do not eliminate Hepatitis among those who inject drugs. Lastly, there is an urgent need for a human rights approach. And the truth is, harm reduction and love have shared a common denominator. They must be both unconditional. And I think that is something that we are able to conclude very clearly. So we need to follow what the Sustainable Development Goals have told us. We cannot leave anyone behind. And to do that, we need to address also sensible issues in many countries such as in prison settings, because we have seen that prison health is public health. It affects us all. And so, as someone said at the conference, we need to go there and solve it. We also need, and we cannot forget, vulnerable populations. As some people call them, the invisible ones. They are not invisible to everyone, but they are invisible to the formal health systems. But community services, civil society movements know who these people are. They know where they live, where they deal with the challenges they face. And so we need to reinforce the power of civil society as a part of universal health coverage. Civil society needs to be a part of formal health systems, and we need to move in that direction. And so to end, I am tremendously honored to have been here. We will continue through our network of parliamentarians from around the world. We have many MPs here. Engage with them, speak with them, challenge them so that we can take these messages home so that we can honorably represent those who have voted in us. And to do that, we also must fight for better drug policy, because as we saw yesterday, good policy can save life. It's time to put people before politics. It's time to make harm reduction universal. It's time to unite. Thank you.