Our mission is to replace cigarettes

with smoke-free products that are much better alternatives

for the men and women who smoke

and achieve this as soon as possible.

To achieve this mission, we are fundamentally transforming ourselves,

learning from our past but looking forward towards a very different future.

But this task is not something we can accomplish alone.

We absolutely need the help of everybody of goodwill

to join this effort.

Be it governments, people in public health,

be it tobacco control advocates, or even people in everyday life.

They can help people around them move out of cigarettes.

And that’s what I’m calling about.

Let’s have a conversation on how this can be best achieved

as soon as possible.

We have a task in front of us.

One billion people smoke today

and according to the World Health Organization,

by 2025, there will still be one billion people that smoke

despite all the regulatory measures on cigarettes.

The products we propose clearly do not burn.

They all heat tobacco, or a liquid

so, by definition, they are at much lower temperatures

and hence they are likely to be better alternatives than cigarettes.

The logical discussion is, like in any other product category,

if better alternatives exist

they should be made available to consumers

with the right regulatory framework and the right information

so they can make adult choices.

In certain countries, you cannot compare tobacco products, by law,

so, it’s very difficult to tell people

this is better for you than a cigarette.

In some other countries, you can’t even talk to consumers at all

because any tobacco product communication is totally prohibited.

How can you explain a novel product in detail

so that the consumers fully understand and talk informed decisions,

if you can’t talk to them?

If we have appropriate regulation,

I think we can get there in a much shorter period of time

which means, essentially, we can move out of cigarettes and smoking

in much lesser periods of time.

Quitting is best

in order to eliminate the risk

compared to using other nicotine products, especially cigarettes.

To convince the one billion-plus people who smoke today to switch

is not a small challenge

and even a company the size of Philip Morris International

cannot achieve this on its own.

So, we need help, and urgently.

We need help from people in governments, the regulators.

We need help from people in public health and the tobacco control community

and the society in general

because everybody knows some smokers around them

and they can help.