PARIS, Aug 15, 2006 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac called on the international community to "keep its promises" in the fight against AIDS, in a message to a global conference made public Tuesday.

"It is morally unacceptable that the majority of sick people are in the south while access to means of prevention and treatment are very significantly in the north," Chirac said in a statement sent to the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

"The international community must keep its promises."

The French president said that international players had promised to ensure that all those in need would have access to treatment by 2010 and that the progression of the disease would be reversed by 2015.

He said there were four main challenges to overcome: resources, universal access to prevention and treatment, discrimination and research.

Chirac also called for an increase in public aid to combat the disease, underlining that France would in 2007 increase its contribution to world funds for the prevention and treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to 300 million euros (380 million dollars).

He highlighted a pioneering French tax on airline tickets to raise money for medicines in the developing world that began in July, adding that Brazil, Britain, Chile, and Norway had also agreed to take part.

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