(17)The Joint Declaration of 31 May 2001 by the Council and the Commission, the abovementioned European Parliament resolution of 4 October 2001 and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 1 November 2001 welcomed the proposal of the UN Secretary-General to establish a Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which came into operation on 29 January 2002, and stressed that contributions to this Fund should be additional to existing resources.