A 3-day online training session was held for the 9th cohort on ‘Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Taxation: Public Health Perspective’ from 16th to 18th August 2022 on the online meeting platform ‘Zoom’. The training program was jointly organized by BER and BNTTP with technical and financial assistance from Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Union.
The opening session was inaugurated by Dr. Rumana Huque, Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka, and Focal person of the Bureau of Economic Research (BER). She talked about the main objective of this online training and the importance of taxation in the field of tobacco control and hoped that the participants will have a great learning opportunity through this training.
On the first day of the training, Nazmul Hossain, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka, conducted a session on the ‘Economics of Tobacco’, and Dr. Nasiruddin Ahmed, Ex-Chairman, NBR conducted a session on ‘Tobacco Control: Country Experiences.’ 1st session of the 2nd day of the training resource person, Hamidul Islam Hillol, Project Manager, BER conducted this session on ‘Tobacco Tax: Theory and Basic Concepts.’ The 2nd session of the day on ‘Economics of tobacco: Harmful effects of Tobacco’ was conducted by Prof. Dr. Golam Mohiuddin, joint secretary of Bangladesh Cancer Society. On the 3rd and last day of the training, the 1st session was conducted by Sushanta Sinha, Special Correspondent, Ekattor TV. The topic of his session was CSR activities and the unethical interference of the tobacco industry. The 2nd session on the proposed ‘Tobacco Tax Proposal’ was conducted by Hamidul Islam Hillol.
Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam, Technical Advisor of The Union, presented his remarks at the closing ceremony of the online training. He hoped that the participants would utilize the learning and knowledge gathered from this training session later on in their workplace as well as in the fight against the harmful use of tobacco.
A total of 19 participants participated and successfully completed the training. The training, funded by the international development organization, The Union, was attended by journalists, development workers, tobacco control workers, and university students. They also pledged to work together to increase taxes on tobacco and tobacco products to improve public health.