Brussels - European Commission - DG Development and Cooperation organises a briefing.

On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day 2012, the European Commission and the WHO FCTC Secretariat jointly organized a one-hour public event at the DEVCO infopoint venue in Brussels (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/infopoint/index_en.htm), aimed at presenting and debating the initiative in support of the FCTC, as one of the ways of EU global health action in developing countries.

The European Commission is supporting the WHO FCTC Secretariat as part of its continuous support to the fight against poverty, poverty-related diseases & other priority health problems, such as the growing challenge of non-communicable diseases. The general feeling among participants was that while developing countries are still facing many challenges and obstacles with regard to the treaty implementation (eg. the necessary financial resources, political will and the need to adapt FCTC implementation to local contexts), the binding nature of this international Convention has already served as a means to governments to strengthen their policies and positions, notably vis a vis the tobacco industry.

The European Commission however also stressed the need to link the FCTC approach to national NCD control strategies being developed after the UNGASS summit 2011 on NCD, in line with aid effectiveness and ownership principles. The European Commission underlined that the FCTC and its implementation worldwide is also in the interest of the EU, as tobacco control is a global challenge and the development of a regulatory framework for tobacco control worldwide is essential. "