UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe receives an interview with Xinhua News Agency on China's Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing, capital of China, May 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Huajuan)

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The chief of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said Friday the Belt and Road Initiative may help tackle some of the difficult issues the world faces.

Michel Sidibe, UN under-secretary-general and UNAIDS executive director, told Xinhua in Beijing that the initiative may deal with issues such as sustainable growth, distribution of opportunities and inequality.

The initiative is a new way to think about policy coordination, improving connectivity and building a better financial system, Sidibe said.

Sidibe will attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation from May 14 to 15 in Beijing.

Sidibe said ending the AIDS epidemic is closely connected with the defeat of poverty. Innovation, connectivity and new partnerships may help UNAIDS realize that goal.

"The initiative can improve innovation in terms of medicine, making sure that scientific discovery is available to more people," he said.

Sidibe said the initiative could help quicken the pace of the UNAIDS 2016-2021 strategy, with the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.