Mozambique becomes 181st party to join WHO tobacco conference

Mozambique became the 181st party to join the Conference of Parties (COP7) to World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which kicked off here today.
"On the opening day of the convention, it was announced that Mozambique is to become the 181st party to the convention and Zimbabwe was welcome as the most recent party to accede to the convention," an official statement said.
India is hosting the seventh session of the six-day convention for the first time. The convention that began today will continue till November 12.
"Parties highlighted the progress they have made in implementation of the convention and it shows there is increasing compliance with the provisions of the treaty.

"The report by the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC Global Progress in implementation of the WHO FCTC also notes the incredible advances made in implementing the measures of the treaty," the statement said.
The Head of the Convention Secretariat, Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, noted that the period since COP6 in 2014 has seen significant success.
"We must applaud the bold action taken by many Parties during the last two years and it is reassuring that the treaty and the standards adopted by COP have helped you protect your decisions against legal challenges," she said.
For the first time, note verbale had been sent requesting Parties to exclude representatives of partially or wholly state-owned tobacco companies from their delegations, the official added.