Mrs. Eliza Fantidou, Vice-President of the Bureau of the Meeting of the Parties
Dr. Gauden Galea, Strategic Adviser to the Regional Director, Special Initiative on NCDs and Innovation, WHO/Europe
Good morning and a warm welcome to everyone, including those WHO FCTC Parties that are joining as observers as they are not yet Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
It is a pleasure that we can once again meet face-to-face to discuss work towards the Third session of the Meeting of the Parties – or MOP3 – in Panama in November.
We will be discussing a range of topics, including:
global progress in the implementation of the Protocol;
tracking and tracing systems and the report of the related working group;
a road map to conduct evidence-based research in accordance with Article 6.5 and Article 13.2 of the Protocol.
We must remember that illicit trade in tobacco poses a serious threat on numerous levels.
This criminal activity can:
- increase the affordability and availability of tobacco products;
- fund and propagate organized crime and terrorist groups;
- enable the tobacco industry’s covert attempts to sell more products at lower prices; and
- hurt national treasuries that lose tax revenue through illicit trade.
As with all tobacco control efforts, it is key to ensure collaboration across various government agencies, and to explain to everyone involved the damage illicit trade can do.
The Convention Secretariat, for example, has been working on relationships with other international governmental bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
I urge you to also do the same in your respective jurisdictions to help build these cross-sector synergies, it is impossible to advance in the implementation of the Protocol without those sectors directly involved in illicit trade, customs, law enforcement, among them and in also impossible to advance without the coordination with the health sector, because tobacco illicit trade from a broader perspective is not just another smuggled product, or just tax revenue lost, it has deep consequences for public health.
The work in the battle against illicit trade is moving.
Just last week as part of marking the fifth anniversary of the entering into force of the Protocol, the global information-sharing focal point was made available to Parties to the Protocol to use in detecting or investigating illicit trade, further securing the supply chain of tobacco products.
Also, a few days before that, Poland became the 68th Party to the Protocol – congratulations! I really hope that more Parties to the WHO FCTC in this Region will also join the Protocol soon.
It is encouraging to see Parties working to make it harder to smuggle tobacco products into their territories.
Just as I did for the pre-COP meeting, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Convention Secretariat has noted with concern that some Parties have been approached by the tobacco and other industry representatives, to offer travel and technical support, including advisors, for their official delegations for COP10 and MOP3. I would like to take this opportunity to remind Parties that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests. We should protect the integrity of the Protocol at all costs and observe Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC. We must remain vigilant.
Finally, I’d like to emphasize that the Convention Secretariat stands ready to continue to work with the WHO Regional Office for Europe to support countries in the Region in the implementation of the Protocol.
I wish you a successful and productive meeting and look forward to seeing you in Panama City.
Thank you.