India will preside the eighth edition of the Conference of Parties (COP) to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which will be held in Switzerland’s Geneva in 2018. Health Secretary C K Mishra has been chosen as the President of the COP Bureau, for the next two years, after a unanimous decision by the COP7 Plenary session.

• India will preside the eighth edition of the Convention of Parties of WHO which will be held in Geneva.
• The World Health Organisations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the world’s biggest convention to frame the anti-tobacco policies.
• COP Bureau is the main administrative body of WHO FCTC that decides on strategies on how to implement the decisions taken in the COP session, which happens every two years. It also monitors implementation by the party countries.
• According to FCTC website, the COP elects at each regular session its President as well as five vice-presidents.
• These officers, each representing a WHO region, constitute the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties.
• According to Rule 21 of the Rules of Procedure of the COP, they shall commence their term of office at the closure of the session and shall serve until the closure of the following regular session of the Conference of the Parties, including for any intervening extraordinary session, the website said.
• The Seventh Session of COP7 to WHO FCTC was hosted by India for the first time and culminated.
• About 1,500 delegates participated in the conference from around 180 countries along with other observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC Secretariat in Geneva.