GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks on a treaty to wean the world off tobacco have made progress but disagreements over advertising and compensation for people with smoking-related diseases remain, the conference chairman said on Monday.

"Progress has been steady. We are going in the right direction," Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa said of the week-long fourth round of negotiations on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which ended on Saturday.

He said national differences in constitutions and legal systems made it difficult to reach a consensus on an advertising ban and compensation, adding to the already tough task of marrying public health interests with those of countries whose economies depend on tobacco.

Correa, Brazil's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, chaired his first session of talks among the 191 member states of the World Health Organisation on an international pact to curb the spread of tobacco-related diseases.

The WHO says such illnesses kill eight people every minute and will claim the lives of 10 million people each year by 2030.

Correa said he was confident the treaty, which includes recommendations on advertising, smuggling and the importance of health above trade issues, would not be diluted by some countries' reluctance to impose tight anti-tobacco measures.

The target date for the pact to come into force is May 2003.

But anti-smoking groups, under the umbrella of the Framework Convention Alliance, accused a handful of nations including the United States, Japan and Germany, of seeking to weaken the pact.

"These countries, home to multinational tobacco companies, continue to put protection of the tobacco industry ahead of the protection of public health," the alliance said.

Correa stressed countries were right to show caution when negotiating the treaty because it would be legally binding once it came into force.

"However, our aspirations are very clear in the sense that we want a strong convention and we also want it to attract all state members which have been involved in the negotiations," he told reporters.

A fifth round of talks is set for October.

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