Panama City: Illicit trade of tobacco products accounts for about 11% of the total global tobacco trade, and its elimination could increase global tax revenues by an estimated US$ 47.4 billion annually.
A global meeting to combat illicit tobacco trade concluded with decisive action here today. Representatives from 56 Parties to the Protocol and 27 non-Party States gathered here from February 12 to 14, 2024, to tackle a range of issues from progress on implementation of the treaty to sustainable financing for tobacco control.
The Third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products concluded today after taking decisive action to combat illicit trade in tobacco products that harms health and rob national governments of tax revenues that could support public health initiatives.
The Third session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP3) adopted the Panama Declaration that calls on national governments to be wary of the ceaseless campaign 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 emphasized the need for effective action to prevent and combat illicit trade in tobacco products, which requires a comprehensive international approach to – and close cooperation on – all aspects of illicit trade in tobacco, tobacco products and tobacco manufacturing equipment.
“Our meeting this week took important decisions on tobacco tracking-and-tracing systems and approved a road map to conduct evidence-based research on illicit trade,” said Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, who as Head of the Secretariat of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control also oversees the Protocol.
“We also agreed on improvements for the reporting system our Parties use, which will strengthen the quality of data on the implementation of the Protocol that can help guide future tobacco control efforts,” she said.
The Meeting of the Parties (MOP) is the governing body of the Protocol, which is an international treaty that entered into force in 2018 and aims to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products through a package of measures to be taken by countries acting in cooperation with one another.
“It is,” Dr Blanco Marquizo said, “a global solution to a global problem.”
MOP3 was open to the media, enabling reporters to document the efforts of more than 500 delegates from around the world as they united over three days to deliberate and take action on important issues related to the implementation of the Protocol.
– global bihari bureau
