Burma: BAT quits

BAT 'dragged out' of Burma

From "The Guardian"
Friday November 7, 2003

Human rights campaigners were celebrating one of their biggest
corporate victories last night after British American Tobacco agreed
to quit Burma in a significant climbdown.

The world's second largest cigarette group said it was leaving the
military-run nation, which is also known as Myanmar, with regret and
insisted it was only doing so after an "exceptional" request from the
British government.

BAT, whose deputy chairman is former chancellor of the exchequer
Kenneth Clarke, has tied up an agreement to sell its stake in Rothmans
of Pall Mall Myanmar to a Singapore investment house.

The deal aims to safeguard jobs at its factory outside Rangoon and the
continued marketing of BAT brands in Burma.

"We believe the solution is a balanced outcome to a difficult dilemma
.... We are leaving our role in Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar with
regret, as our managers have established it as one of Burma's best
employers," said Michael Prideaux, director of corporate and
regulatory affairs at BAT.

Company chairman Martin Broughton was asked this summer by foreign
office minister Mike O'Brien to withdraw from the country.

The request followed a crackdown by the military in Burma on May 30
when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested. Dozens of her
supporters were allegedly killed in an ambush by pro-government
supporters.

BAT's retreat follows the exit of Premier Oil and travel groups such
as Abercrombie & Kent.

The Burma Campaign UK and Federation of Trade Unions in Burma have
targeted BAT over the last 12 months in a sustained verbal assault on
the group.

"This is a huge victory," said John Jackson, director of the Burma
Campaign UK. "They had to be dragged out kicking and screaming but at
least they are out. If a company like BAT can be forced out of Burma
any company can be."

Mr O'Brien said he was "delighted" by the news. "I appreciate that
this was a difficult process, but I am in no doubt that the decision
was the right one," he said.

Activists were given ammunition when Mr Clarke admitted in a letter to
a constituent that he had reservations about working in the south-east
Asian nation.

"The problem in Burma arises when companies start collaborating with
an extremely unpleasant regime, which is totally contrary to our
notions of civil liberties and democracy," he wrote.

BAT had argued that one of the main obstacles to pulling out was
concern that it could mean the end of 500 jobs at the cigarette
factory.

This argument was undermined in June when it axed the same number of
staff at its Darlington plant as part of 1,300 job cuts in Britain and
Canada.

BAT entered Burma in 1999 when it acquired Rothmans International,
which owned the stake in the Burma factory.

The London-based tobacco group declined to discuss the financial
details of the sale of the 60% stake in the factory, which is being
bought by Singapore's Distinction Investment Holdings. It insisted the
sell-off had nothing to do with the campaign and was solely a response
to the British government's request.

The remaining 40% of the Rothmans business in Burma is held by the
junta there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/s...079749,00.html

Just for a change it's good news for Myanmar: less people will die of
smoking cigarettes. Let's hope BAT withdraws also from other countries.

--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus4040_5050/
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html

"Mike987" schreef in bericht
...
BAT 'dragged out' of Burma

From "The Guardian"
Friday November 7, 2003

Human rights campaigners were celebrating one of their biggest
corporate victories last night after British American Tobacco agreed
to quit Burma in a significant climbdown.

Great. Now all tobacco growers can switch to more lucrative crops.........

Sjoerd

"Mike987" schreef in bericht
...
BAT 'dragged out' of Burma

From "The Guardian"
Friday November 7, 2003

Human rights campaigners were celebrating one of their biggest
corporate victories last night after British American Tobacco agreed
to quit Burma in a significant climbdown.


British American Tobacco
for sure killed more people than the current government of Myanmar.

"Mike987" schreef in bericht
...
BAT 'dragged out' of Burma

From "The Guardian"
Friday November 7, 2003

Human rights campaigners were celebrating one of their biggest
corporate victories last night after British American Tobacco agreed
to quit Burma in a significant climbdown.


Human rights campaigners should better concentrate on
the number of dead people, caused by the products of BAT.

In article , Mike987
writes:

BAT, whose deputy chairman is former chancellor of the exchequer
Kenneth Clarke, has tied up an agreement to sell its stake in Rothmans
of Pall Mall Myanmar to a Singapore investment house.

The deal aims to safeguard jobs at its factory outside Rangoon and the
continued marketing of BAT brands in Burma.


Why do I feel that this doesn't change anything but names?
edwardseco