Tobacco kills more than eight million people worldwide each year, including 1.3 million passive smokers, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This Thursday, she announced that an agreement on the creation of a global fund intended to finance the global fight against tobacco was reached in Panama.
This fund of 75 million dollars, supplemented by donor countries in the form of interest-free loans, will be managed by the World Bank, declared Adriana Blanco, head of the secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) .
“This is an innovative way to generate resources to help finance the implementation of international agreements to combat tobacco,” she stressed during a press conference.
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The creation of this fund was decided during the third follow-up conference of the protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products (MOP3), which resulted in a commitment to strengthen the fight against illicit tobacco trade by using technology and international cooperation.
A Russian company has presented a digital tracking and tracing system for tobacco products which, according to its managers, helps combat smuggling and tax evasion and is used in five countries.
Tobacco industry involved in smuggling
The framework agreement, in force since 2005, has 183 signatories, while the protocol, in force since 2018, has only 68. “We are considering a capital of 25 million dollars for the protocol and a capital of 50 million dollars for the framework agreement, which will be managed together,” explained Ms. Blanco.
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About 10% of the global cigarette market is illicit, but in some countries the figure exceeds 50%, according to estimates by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
“It is clearly established (…) that the tobacco industry is involved in illicit trade, even if it claims to be the victim,” said Adriana Blanco.
Some NGOs believe that the tobacco industry exaggerates cigarette smuggling figures in order to encourage governments to reduce tobacco taxes.