Business Desk :
Anti-tobacco campaigner, PROGGA, on Tuesday condemned the government’s decision to permit Japan Tobacco (JT) group to conduct its business in the country through foreign direct investment (FDI).
In a press statement PROGGA said, the government has permitted the multinational tobacco giant to acquire United Dhaka Tobacco Company Limited (UDTC), the tobacco business of local Akij group, for Tk 124.3 billion (US$1.47 billion), as per the agreement signed between these two companies on Monday.
The organization claimed that this move will eventually put the public health of the country into a larger risk.
Mentioning that currently the youth consist 31 percent of total population of Bangladesh, the anti-tobacco campaigner also claimed that the youth population, in particular, may be the main target of JT, the fourth largest tobacco company of the world.
“JT group, while expanding its market into new territories, puts forth the issue of selling so-called ‘safe’ tobacco vapor or e-cigarettes. But in reality, the sole purpose of its business is to create a much larger market for cigarettes”, said the statement adding that, “It should be noted that, the sale of cigarettes in Japan is rapidly shrinking and JT’s business in the local market of Japan has saw a decrease of 5.1 percent.”
As Japan’s government has introduced a set of stern tobacco control regulations in recent months, Bangladesh, the world’s 8th largest cigarette market has become a major target place for the company to expand their business, claimed PROGGA.
