India to host Conference on Tobacco Control today

India is set to host the crucial global tobacco control conference today for the first time, where it will push for incorporating smokeless tobacco as an agenda.

The Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties to World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will begin today at Greater Noida.

Health Ministry officials said, about 1,500 delegates are expected to participate in the six-day conference from around 180 countries along with other observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC Secretariat in Geneva.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be the special invited speaker at the conference, which will be inaugurated by Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

The Sri Lankan President, who served as the Minister of Health during the previous government, is a strong advocate of tobacco control and successfully implemented laws to display pictorial warnings up to 80 percent on both sides of cigarette packets.

India has provided a leadership role in the negotiations of FCTC and has also served as the regional coordinator for the South-East Asia Region.

India ratified the treaty on February 27, 2005 and is obligated to comply with the treaty provisions and its guidelines to reduce tobacco consumption globally.