BAT to extinguish business in Myanmar
November 6, 2003
By AFP
London - Cigarette giant British American Tobacco (BAT) is pulling out of Myanmar following a request by the British government to withdraw due to human rights concerns, it said on Thursday.
The announcement marks a major turnaround for BAT, which had for years resisted intense pressure from human rights activists to pull out of the country, long condemned for its human rights record.
BAT said it was selling its 60-percent stake in a cigarette factory it co-owns with the Myanmar's military government to Singapore-based Distinction Investment Holdings, which already held a small share of the venture.
However the company vigorously defended the Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar business, saying it was withdrawing only because the British government had asked it to do so.
"The sale agreement follows the exceptional formal request by the British government in July for us to reconsider our investment in the joint venture. As a UK-based multinational, we have taken the request seriously," said Michael Prideaux, BAT's head of corporate and regulatory affairs.
Selling was "a balanced outcome to a difficult dilemma," he said, stressing that BAT wanted to make sure the factory stayed open.
"We are leaving our role in Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar with regret, as our managers have established it as one of Burmas best employers, operating to high standards of business practice and corporate responsibility," Prideaux added.
The near-unprecedented request from the British government came on July 2, when junior foreign minister Mike O'Brien held a meeting with BAT chairman Martin Broughton.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair had told parliament earlier that trade between British companies and Myanmar's military regime was wrong.
"We are making it clear to British companies that we do not believe this is appropriate in circumstances where this regime continues to suppress the basic human rights of its people," he said.
BAT had previously rejected this, saying that it would keep its stake in the factory as long as no formal economic sanctions were imposed on Myanmar.
Myanmar's human rights record was placed under the spotlight on May 30 when the country's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was put in what its government called "protective custody" following vicious clashes between her followers and pro-regime elements.
The 58-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has endured several years of house arrest following 1990 elections won overwhelmingly by her National League for Democracy, a result not recognised by the junta. - AFP
|
|
