Seoul meeting elects Korean president of FCTC’s Conference of the Parties

Moon Chang-jin, president of the Korea Health Promotion Foundation, has been elected president of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Conference of the Parties (CoP), according to a Korea Herald story relayed by the TMA.

Moon, who was elected during the CoP5 meeting inSeoul,South Korea, last week to succeedUruguay’s Ricardo Varela, will head CoP6, which is to be held inMoscow,Russia, in 2014.

“The Korean government promises its full support as a chair country for the next two years,” said Lim Jong-kyu, director general of healthcare policy at the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. “We will take full responsibility to push ahead with tobacco-related policies.”

On the first day of the meeting inSeoul, delegates adopted a protocol aimed at reducing the illicit trade in tobacco products.

They agreed to require tobacco companies to disclose their products’ toxic substances so as to help accelerate scientific research on tobacco toxins.

And they made policy recommendations, including proposals to raise taxes on tobacco products.

Delegates discussed alternatives to tobacco growing, smokeless tobacco products and e-cigarettes, but decided to finalize their discussions at the next session.