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Distinguished
Delegates of Member States,
Friends and
Colleagues,
We have now reached the end of another crucial
round of negotiations on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
There has been hard work and there has been good progress. This has
been made possible by the combined determination of all delegations.
There are clearly many outstanding issues, but
there are now good tools available to start off the discussions in
INB4.
Before then it will be good also to maintain the
level of inter-sessional and regional consultations that is so crucial
to the FCTC process of work.
At the national level, many of you are seeking to
strengthen programmes on tobacco control and ensure that the best
evidence we have is translated into effective policies and actions.
These national actions will complement your work here. WHO’s Tobacco
Free Initiative staff in the regions and Geneva are ready to support
you.
I thank the growing number of nongovernmental
organizations who have participated during this week. Your enthusiasm,
scrutiny of the process and recommendations are being heard. We hope
that all of you, governments and NGOs, will seize the moment we have
here to further energise national tobacco control plans at home. The
FCTC will only be stronger because of it.
WHO and its sister United Nations agencies will
also be stepping up our collaborative work on tobacco control. As you
are aware, in 1999 the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
endorsed the establishment of a United Nations Ad Hoc Interagency Task
Force under WHO's leadership. This Task Force will be meeting for its
fourth session in Kobe, Japan, from 3-4 December to review the
ongoing United Nations work in the area of international tobacco
control.
Let me also mention one other initiative. The World
Health Organization, along with our partners and some of the world’s
top athletes, launched the Tobacco Free Sports campaign last week. It
has elicited tremendous interest from people across the world, and
some of you have already come to us with your plans for this campaign.
In addition to having the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2002 football
World Cup as tobacco free events, we look forward to working with each
of you in establishing Tobacco Free Sports events in your own
countries.
Mr
Chairman,
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The last few days have been very intensive and many
issues and concerns have been hotly debated. The FCTC, as we all know,
is a complex document. The principle that guides it, however, is a
simple one - we are gathered here today because tobacco kills. With
one life lost to tobacco every eight seconds, time is not on our side.
Our overriding concern must be to protect public health.
My thanks to Ambassador Roger Farrell, our outgoing
Co-Chair from New Zealand, who exhibited such skill and dedication and
will be missed by all participants. A special thanks to all the
Co-Chairs for their continuing efforts, skill and patience in guiding
the proceedings of the Working Groups. And to the members of the
Bureau for their day-today work.
Finally, I would also like to extend our special
appreciation for the outstanding work of the outgoing Chair of the
Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil.
Ambassador, you have guided the proceedings with a fair hand, always
able to find the right balance of compromise and firmness that
continuously kept the discussions and the text moving in the right
direction. Thank you very much indeed. You have done a great service
for public health and you will long be remembered for it.
I wish all delegations a safe journey home and look
forward to welcoming you back in the spring of 2002.
Thank you.
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