The World Health Organisation has handed Hong Kong a key role in the global battle against smoking, in recognition of the city's success in cutting tobacco consumption.
A combination of higher taxes, social factors and effective anti-tobacco campaigning has seen the number of people aged 15 and above who smoke in Hong Kong drop to a current level of 11.1 per cent, down from 12 per cent in 2009, and one of the lowest rates in the developed world.
The low rate of smoking has won praise from the WHO, which says Hong Kong's achievements can serve as an example not only to the mainland - which is home to the highest number of smokers in the world - but the wider region.
Senior WHO adviser Susan Mercado told the Sunday Morning Post that, from next year, Hong Kong will host the international organisation's global collaboration centre on tobacco control.
Hong Kong will become the first 'non-country'' to take up the training role, normally only reserved for sovereign states. It will see health professionals from around the region coming to the city to be schooled in smoking-cessation skills.
The collaboration centre, which will come under the auspices of the Hong Kong Tobacco Control Centre, will train 50 health professionals each year. A particular target of their work will be the mainland's moderate and heavy smokers. It is the WHO's fourth collaboration centre on tobacco control in Asia, after Japan, Singapore and mainland China.
'Hong Kong is doing very well, particularly in terms of enforcement. It can set an example for China,' said Mercado, the WHO regional adviser on Tobacco Free Initiative.