H.E Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh, COP9 President to the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Convention on Tobacco Control, delivered the final closing address. He believes “this week we have borne witness to history”, although it’s possible that history will not be defined in the way he thinks.
“The highest number of Parties ever have been represented at this week’s proceedings. This is truly a major achievement given the nature of our virtual meetings and the restrictions made necessary by the COVID 19 pandemic. Over the years we have seen an increasing number of Parties attending the COP. But this week we have welcomed 161 Parties – a wonderful new record.”
Maybe it would have been more important to have boosted the number of members from civil society – end consumers – being able to participate as observers, but having a lot of politicians, civil servants, and Bloomberg shills logging on to fractured broadcasts is bound to be something historians will view with positivity.
Dave Cross – Planet of the Vapes – 2021-11-17.
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