ANKARA 

The EU on Saturday announced a €550 million ($618 million) pledge to the Global Fund for the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. 

European Council President Donald Tusk, representing the EU at the G7 summit in the French town of Biarritz, made the announcement, the European Commission said in a statement.

"The EU has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund since its creation, when the AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis epidemics seemed to be unbeatable," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying in the statement.  

Juncker said the EU hopes that the international community will step up the fight to fulfill the Fund's target of ending these diseases' epidemics by 2030.

According to the statement, the Global Fund has already saved 27 million lives since it was created in 2002.