Dear President, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends.
It has been a great pleasure to gather together face to face – with almost 60 Parties – for the Third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
Despite the challenges of the past few months, we made it here to beautiful Panama City.
The MOP took important decisions on tracking and tracing, approved a road map to conduct evidence-based research, and agreed on improvements for the Protocol reporting system, which will strengthen the quality of data on implementation of the Protocol.
The Panama Declaration adopted here at MOP3 further reminds us of the need to be alert to – and concerned about – attempts and strategies employed by the tobacco industry and those working to further its interests to undermine efforts to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products.
The Panama Declaration also reminds us that effective action to prevent and combat illicit trade in tobacco products requires a comprehensive international approach to – and close cooperation on – all aspects of illicit trade in tobacco, tobacco products and tobacco manufacturing equipment.
I would like to highlight another important point.
Panama, our host these past two weeks, has a strong commitment to the environment and – as a result – had a desire to make these back-to-back governing bodies meetings “paper-lite”.
That goes hand-in-hand with the recent practices of the COP, the MOP and the Convention Secretariat.
In fact, during this COP and MOP, we have saved the equivalent of 60 trees by keeping our printing of documents to a minimum.
Hopefully this will provide the needed incentive to eventually move towards paperless future meetings.
Ladies and gentlemen, our achievements this week were only possible thanks to the work of so many people.
First, I want to thank Panama for its professionalism in organizing this conference. They have been working tirelessly in order to provide this flawless meeting.
Also, I want to thank the colleagues that are not so visible, but play a crucial role:
- The interpreters who allowed us to not only communicate but cooperate.
- The translators who worked tirelessly to produce documents in six languages, working not only during the day but throughout the night.
- The records officers, report writers and editors who helped prepare the documents that you have received over the past couple of days – and months.
- The logistics and security teams and IT technicians who toiled without complaint to support our daily work in this beautiful Convention Center.
- And a shout-out to the Convention Center’s local support staff, they kept us organized, on track and well fed, with delicious and nutritious food that our host provided this entire week.
I also would like to extend my gratitude to the media who have traveled from near and far to raise awareness – all around the world – about the issue of illicit trade in tobacco products.
I cannot conclude these remarks without a big thank you to the Secretariat team and our colleagues from WHO, who have accompanied us throughout this journey.
I am proud of your enthusiasm and dedication that made this week possible.
Thank you, distinguished delegates, for your passion and dedication to strengthening tobacco control measures and demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the Protocol – and to a healthy, tobacco-free future for all of us.
For those that are not yet Parties to the Protocol, I urge you to consider joining this effort, born from the WHO FCTC itself.
I wish you safe travels home.
Thank you.