Philip Morris TKP CEO Michael Solter said that for 2021, the desire of the company is to use the challenges to change for the better. He says that 2020 is a year that will remain in our memories for a longer period time, though difficult for some, and successful for others, filled with challenges for all. A year that we faced the exceptional challenge of COVID-19 we feared and still fear for ourselves, for our loved ones, our employees and our businesses. The greatest civilization benefit that this pandemic has brought, from a sociological point of view, aside from the technological inventions is the care we developed for each other and for the environment in general. Philip Morris is a company that has been recognizing innovation as a symbol of growth and change for the better, for years. The “necessity” that guides us is to solve the problem with smoking in a different way than previously known, apparently unsuccessful, conventional attempts. We have committed to that goal 15 years ago, when by putting science at the core of our business operations, we started looking for a less harmful solution for those smokers who are not ready to quit smoking. This is how IQOS was created. Five years ago a revolutionary innovation, today a well-known product that heats, instead of burning tobacco, thus eliminating most of the harmful and potentially harmful constituents found in cigarette smoke.
Locally, we will remember 2020 for bringing our innovative product to the Macedonian market. Globally, Philip Morris will remember 2020 also for the decision made by the world-renowned agency for the protection of public health, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to classify the IQOS system in the category of modified risk products.
The past year has been a great life lesson, what I believe it will lead us forward in the also uncertain year 2021.