2.3 WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific

of more than 140 Parties, as well as the representatives of seven states that are not party to the Convention and 18 intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations accredited as observers. The COP elected Moon ChangJin of the Republic of Korea as president. On 12 November 2012, in a landmark step in the strengthening of treaty instruments, the COP adopted the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, following a four-year negotiation that ended in 2012. It was designed to combat the worldwide illicit tobacco trade and contains provisions that require a ratifying state to take a variety of measures regarding the tobacco trade. It is currently open for ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by the Parties to the WHO FCTC. As of 18 December 2015, 54 parties had signed the protocol. The Republic of Korea signed the protocol on 10 January 2013. The Parties also made a collective commitment, in the Seoul Declaration, to accelerate implementation of the Convention and to protect it from interference by the tobacco industry, as well as to cooperate with each other, with the Convention Secretariat and other international bodies to strengthen their capacity to implement the Convention (27).

2.3 Who regional committee for the Western pacific

The fifty-eighth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific was hosted by the Republic of Korea. The meeting was held at the International Convention Center on Jeju Island from 10 to 14 September 2007. Issues discussed at the meeting included the establishment of countermeasures against newly emerging communicable diseases such as avian influenza, the prevention of lifestyle (noncommunicable) diseases, the promotion of anti-smoking campaigns and research on traditional medicine (28).

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Q The republic of Korea in 2007 hosted the fifty-eighth session of the Who regional committee for the Western pacific on Jeju island.