UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon promised on Monday the issue of AIDS will remain a system-wide priority for the world body.

    "The UN will deliver as one on AIDS, and the already pioneering coordination efforts of UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) and its cosponsors will be strengthened further through system-wide coherence," Ban told a plenary session of the 61st General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.

    "I will make every effort to mobilize funding for the response to AIDS, now and in the longer term," he said.

    He added that one lesson learned in the past 25 years in the fight against the global epidemic is that "only when we work together with unity of purpose can we defeat AIDS -- unity among Governments, the private sector and civil society."