Dear Bureau members,
Colleagues and friends from Parties,
WHO and other members from Intergovernmental organizations
Nongovernmental organizations,
The the Convention Secretariat team,
It is time to say goodbye and thank you for the confidence and support you have generously provided during my tenure as Head of the Convention Secretariat.
These five and half years have been an incredible journey, a unique experience in which working together with all of you we advanced implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and launched a new initiative with the entrance into force of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
I am very fortunate to have befriended and learned from so many committed, visionary and capable individuals and their organizations.
Let me start by thanking the Bureau presidents, members and regional coordinators of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol who guided me and the Convention Secretariat team.
My gratitude also extends to the officials of the Parties, who have worked daily with us and who have responded so positively and generously to my many requests.
I also want to thank the World Health Organization, which hosts the Convention Secretariat, and WHO colleagues at all levels who have joined us in supporting the tobacco control agenda shared by so many governments.
Many thanks to our colleagues at international intergovernmental organizations for believing in the mission of the Convention and the Protocol, and for joining the Convention Secretariat in its efforts to make intersectoral work an operational reality.
Thanks also to colleagues and friends from civil society and academia who continue to collaborate and support the work of the Convention Secretariat. I have enjoyed every discussion, every brainstorming session and every meeting we had. As the driving force behind so many relevant global initiatives, I am sure you will continue to advance the treaty’s implementation agenda despite the efforts of the tobacco industry and other commercial interests that put profit before people's health and human rights.
Last but not least, I would like to express extra special recognition to my Secretariat colleagues. I know that embracing my vision – and dreaming together about what we could achieve – was not always easy, or simple to understand. But with persistence and commitment, we collectively advanced the agenda of the Convention and Protocol, always with the support of an invaluable team interpreters, editors, translators, consultants, volunteers and interns.
Finally, I want to extend a warm welcome, and congratulations, to my friend Adriana Blanco, who will take the helm as Head. I wish her every success in bringing the Secretariat to new heights, going further to better serve the Convention and Protocol Parties, and to advance public health and sustainable development.
I am proud to be but one part of a very big tobacco control family and feel privileged to have witnessed the enthusiasm and impressive spirit of collaboration and global solidarity you all have demonstrated.
As I return home, I will continue to follow all developments with interest and be the first to applaud new advances in tobacco control, including the outcomes of the forthcoming Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties and the Second Session of the Meeting of the Parties in The Hague.
Let’s keep working towards a better world.
Wishing you all the best.
Kindly,
Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva
Head of the Secretariat
WHO FCTC and the Protocol