Parliamentarians Forum on Tobacco Control 2019

Welcome remarks by UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton

April 11, 2019

Photo source: Parliament of Georgia

Welcome remarks by UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton

at the Parliamentarians Forum on Tobacco Control 

Akaki Zoidze, Chair of the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia

Honorable members of parliament,

Convention Secretariat representatives,

Distinguished guests,

  • On behalf of the United Nations Development Programme in Georgia, I’m honored to be here today to open this important event, the “Parliamentarians Forum on Tobacco Control.”
 
  • Let me start by thanking the Parliament of Georgia for generously hosting this meeting.
 
  • And let me express our appreciation for the long distances our guest parliamentarians have travelled – from Cape Verde, Egypt, El Salvador, Jordan, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka – to join us here today.
 
  • As an organization dedicated to sustainable development, UNDP is committed to tobacco control because of the millions of lives cut short each year due to tobacco-related disease.
 
  • But tobacco control is not just a health issue.
 
  • There is irrefutable evidence that tobacco exacerbates inequalities, deepens poverty, slows economic growth and even compounds environmental damage.
 
  • This makes tobacco control a challenge for sustainable development.
 
  • In fact, tobacco’s impacts extend across all three of the dimensions – social, economic and environmental – of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
 
  • This is why accelerated implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a clear and specific target in the SDGs (namely target 3.a under Global Goal 3 for health).
 
  • And this is why UNDP is so proud to be a core partner of the “FCTC 2030” project.
 
  • As part of this project, UNDP is leading the development of Tobacco Control Investment Cases.
 
  • These show very clearly the heavy social and economic costs of the tobacco epidemic.
 
  • In Georgia, for instance, the investment case findings indicate that tobacco costs the Georgian economy roughly 300 million dollars every year -- equivalent to 2.4 percent of Georgia’s GDP. 
 
  • Conversely, the findings also show that by acting now to implement and enforce a set of priority WHO FCTC measures, Georgia can avoid nearly 1.5 billion US dollars in healthcare expenditures and economic losses over the coming 15 years.
 
  • What this means is that every Georgian lari invested will deliver 357 lari in return over the coming 15 years – savings that can be reinvested in spurring economic growth and development.
 
  • The results are similar for every country where investment cases have been completed.
 
  • Georgia has taken these findings to heart.
 
  • In 2017 the Parliament adopted a comprehensive tobacco control legislative package, and its first phases took effect last year, including a sweeping ban on advertisements for cigarettes.
 
  • This is a major step forward, and the results are already visible. Compliance rates are high, including 95 percent compliance on no-smoking zones, and 92 percent compliance on points of sale.
 
  • Georgia’s parliament has set a worthy example to follow.
 
  • Parliamentarians can play a crucial role in tobacco control. You can help enact, finance and oversee well-designed and comprehensive tobacco-control legislation – legislation that reduces both the supply of and demand for tobacco through proven, cost-effective measures.
 
  • Tobacco control also poses unique governance challenges, which are addressed under Article 5 of the Convention. This requires action across a wide range of policy areas including domestic and international trade, taxation, customs and border control, and environmental protection.
 
  • By providing Government the legal framework, mandate and resources to act, you as legislators can enable the multisectoral coordination and response necessary to take on the harms of tobacco.
 
  • And by putting in place legal safeguards against the tobacco industry’s undue interference, you can ensure that public policy reflects the needs of the population – and not the needs of an industry that thrives on a deadly and destructive product.
 
  • Even as we study the numbers, we need to remember the human beings behind the economics.
 
  • Effective legislation can help avert the tragedies due to smoking that happen every day.
 
  • Tobacco control can even create a virtuous cycle, by generating the tax revenue needed to expand public health care and address other social policy needs.
 
  • We see only “wins” here.
 
  • So we call on you to join the global effort to design, pass and enforce tobacco control policies and legislation.
 
  • At UNDP, we are committed to supporting you every step of the way.
 

Thank you.